Re-Admission in Patients with Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections: Continuity of Care Matters

Abstract

Background:

Necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTIs) are rapidly progressive infections with high mortality and complication rates. The incidence of NSTIs has been increasing steadily whereas mortality has decreased; survivors have a high risk of re-hospitalization. We hypothesized that re-admission to the index hospital where the first admission occurred would be associated with better clinical outcomes compared with re-admission to a non-index hospital.

Patients and Methods:

We identified patients from the 2017 Nationwide Readmissions Database with an index admission for NSTIs and examined all-cause re-admissions within 90 days of discharge. We noted whether re-admission occurred at the index or a non-index hospital. Survey-weighted logistic regression identified factors associated with death at the first re-admission and re-admission to index hospital. We also compared patient outcomes between patients admitted to index versus non-index hospitals.

Results:

We identified 27,051 NSTI survivors, of whom 6,954 (25.7%) had an unplanned re-admission within 90 days. A large proportion of re-admission occurred at non-index hospitals (28.3%; n = 1,966). Factors associated with non-index re-admission included prolonged index length of stay, discharge to short-term hospital, and leaving against medical advice. Patients re-admitted to index hospitals had a lower mortality rate (4.7% vs. 6.7%; p = 0.003), lower admission costs (in $1000; 45 [23–88] vs. 50 [24–104]; p = 0.004) and higher discharge rate to home (55.7% vs. 48.6%; p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

More than one-quarter of re-admissions among NSTI survivors were to non-index hospitals. Continuity of care is important because re-admission to the index hospital was associated with better patient outcomes.