Socioeconomic and health-related factors affecting Congestive Heart Failure Readmissions

Congestive heart failure (CHF) readmissions are frequent and costly, but preventable. These readmissions not only contribute to rising healthcare cost but also affect the quality of life of these individuals and their loved ones. Guided by the social ecology model for health for health promotion, the purpose of this study was to analyze the socioeconomic and health-related factors of CHF readmissions. The main hypothesis of this study was that there was a relationship between 30-day readmissions of individuals with CHF and their payer status, race, ethnicity, primary language spoken, living arrangement, and comorbidities in the dataset as identified in their medical record after adjusting for potential confounders. This retrospective case-control study used secondary data from patients with CHF admitted to a northern Virginia hospital from July 2014 to December 2017. Data were analyzed using chi-square and logistic regression. Results of the study showed that living arrangements and chronic renal failure (CRF) were significant predictors of CHF readmissions. Patients who lived with family and those from assisted living facilities were less likely to be readmitted than those who lived alone (OR: 0.2 and 0.5, respectively). In addition, patients without CRF were also less likely to be readmitted than those who have CRF (OR: 0.6). This study can contribute to positive social change through research-based data necessary to create strong and meaningful community-based public health programs specifically tailored towards individuals who are frequently readmitted due to CHF exacerbation, taking into consideration the group’s specific circumstances and special needs