Table 1.
Initial hospitalisation and patient characteristics by readmission status
| Variable | Early readmissions (0–7 days) (n=2897, 11.0%) |
Late readmissions (8–180 days) (n=8853, 33.8%) |
No readmission (within 180 days) (n=14 503, 55.2%) |
| Age n (%) | |||
| <40 | 305 (10.5) | 863 (9.8) | 1616 (11.1) |
| 41–59 | 664 (22.9) | 1869 (21.1) | 3156 (21.8) |
| 60–79 | 1189 (41.0) | 3525 (39.8) | 5343 (36.8) |
| >80 | 739 (25.5) | 2596 (29.3) | 4388 (30.3) |
| Sex Male n (%) | 1588 (54.8) | 4688 (53.0) | 7528 (52.0) |
| Confirmed indigenous status n (%) |
169 (5.8) | 249 (2.8) | 329 (2.3) |
| Marital status n (%) | |||
| Single | 96 (7.9) | 398 (9.2) | 496 (7.3) |
| Married/partnered | 532 (43.7) | 1957 (45.2) | 2962 (43.4) |
| Divorced/separated | 138 (11.4) | 513 (11.8) | 496 (7.3) |
| Home alone n (%) | 387 (31.9) | 1369 (31.6) | 1957 (28.6) |
| LOS median (IQR) | 4.0 (6.1) | 3.7 (5.0) | 2.8 (4.0) |
| ICU hours mean (SD) | 5.9 (37.2) | 3.3 (22.1) | 3.5 (33.4) |
| MET call during admission n (%) | 91 (7.5) | 274 (6.3) | 475 (6.9) |
| Complications during admission n (%) | 707 (24.4) | 1745 (19.7) | 2725 (18.8) |
| Previous healthcare use median (IQR) | 1.0 (2.0) | 1.0 (2.0) | 0 (1.0) |
| Malnourished n (%) | 172 (37.6) | 514 (33.2) | 632 (28.1) |
| MUST score* mean (SD) | 0.38 (0.48) | 0.33 (0.47) | 0.27 (0.44) |
| MUST group† n (%) | |||
| Low risk | 286 (62.4) | 1033 (66.8) | 1614 (71.9) |
| Medium risk | 65 (14.2) | 205 (13.2) | 252 (11.2) |
| High risk | 107 (23.4) | 309 (20.0) | 380 (16.9) |
| BMI mean (SD) | 26.5 (7.3) | 26.6 (7.6) | 27.0 (7.4) |
| Weekend discharge | 487 (16.8) | 1645 (18.6) | 2578 (19.5) |
| Discharge time n (%) | |||
| 0600–1200 | 817 (28.2) | 2453 (27.7) | 4031 (27.8) |
| 1201–1800 | 1854 (64.0) | 5811 (65.6) | 8843 (61.0) |
| 1801–0559 | 226 (7.8) | 589 (6.7) | 1629 (11.2) |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index mean (SD) | 2.3 (2.3) | 2.0 (2.3) | 1.4 (2.0) |
| IRSD‡ score mean (SD) | 5.1 (2.8) | 5.3 (2.7) | 5.4 (2.9) |
*Higher MUST score indicates worse nutrition status.
†MUST group, low risk=MUST score 0, medium risk=MUST score 1, high risk=MUST score ≥2.
‡Higher IRSD score indicates better socioeconomic status.
BMI, body mass index; ICU, intensive care unit; IRSD, Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage; LOS, length of hospital stay; MET, medical emergency response team; MUST, malnutrition universal screening tool.