Dietary Fiber Education for Diverticular Disease and Hospital Readmission Rates

Hospital readmission rates are being used to indicate quality of care by healthcare facilities in recent years. Increase in incidence and hospitalizations of patients with diverticular disease (DD) has caused burden to hospital resources. High fiber diets have been a part of the recommended therapy for patients to reduce symptoms and complications of DD. Analysis of the effect of high fiber diet education on hospital readmission of patients with a diagnosis of DD (N=68) was conducted. Chi-square analysis determined that high fiber diet education was not associated with readmission (x2=0.567, P=0.452). T-tests determined that men were more likely to be readmitted than women (P=0.029). A higher BMI was also observed in patients who were readmitted compared to those not readmitted (P=0.006). While high fiber diet education was not associated with readmission, males and patients with a higher BMI were significantly associated with hospital readmission