The Relationship of Cardiovascular Disease to 30-Day Hospital Readmission Among Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Reducing thirty-day hospital readmissions is a top healthcare priority. However, there is little research describing the risk factors of readmission among patients with diabetes, especially for older adults. Understanding what the risk factors are for 30-day hospital readmission for older adults with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) would help identify patients at risk of rehospitalization. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with 30-day unplanned hospital readmissions among older adults with T2DM.Factors to be investigated are: patient demographics and whether the patient was hospitalized for cardiovascular disease. Participants were older adults\u3e65 years old with T2DM, admitted to a community hospital from January 2012-January 2017.Of 843 patients, 200 were randomly selected to have their electronic medical records reviewed for this study.Patients readmitted within 30 days of discharge were similar to patients who were not readmitted on most demographic characteristics, except for hospitalization in the 12 months before admission. Readmitted patients were more likely to have been hospitalized for cardiovascular disease than not readmitted patients. Older adults with T2DM who were readmitted within 30 days post-discharge were more likely to have had a previous hospitalization and more likely to have been hospitalized for cardiovascular disease.Future analyses will incorporate additional potential predictors of unplanned hospital readmissions