Hospital readmission of persons with hip fracture following medical rehabilitation

A significant percentage of older adults hospitalized and treated for hip fracture are readmitted to a hospital within six months. We analyzed information from a national database, the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation. Records for 8236 patients (1994-98) who received inpatient medical rehabilitation following treatment for hip fracture were examined. Mean age was 76.51 years (S.D.=12.48) with 71% female and 79% non-Hispanic White. The primary outcome measure was incidence of hospital readmission 0-180 days post-discharge. The hospital readmission rate was 16.7%. A Cox regression model predicting rehospitalization included the following variables (p<0.05): basic daily living skills, age, length of stay, ethnicity, and gender. There was a statistically significant difference in the percent of male versus female patients rehospitalized for Hispanic subjects but not for non-Hispanic white or African American subjects. The greatest variability occurred among male patients. A total of 18.1% of non-Hispanic White males and 16.8% of African American males were rehospitalized. In contrast, only 10.1% of Hispanic males were rehospitalized. Basic daily living skills, length of hospital stay, age, ethnicity and gender were variables associated with hospital readmission following medical rehabilitation in persons with hip fracture. These variables should be considered in developing intervention programs to reduce the risk of hospital readmission.