Re-hospitalizations within 30-days and Mortality Outcomes Among Severely Visually Impaired and Blind Patients: Analysis of the National Readmission Database

Background: Readmissions among patients with severe vision impairment or blindness (SVI/B) has not been fully studied. We investigated hospital outcomes for adults with SVI/B in the United States. Methods Using the Nationwide Readmission Database year 2017, we analyzed primary outcomes for thirty-day readmission rates for patients with and without SVI/B. Secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality rates for readmitted patients, in-hospital mortality rates for index patients, the five most common principal diagnoses for readmission, and resource utilization. Results 34,558 patients had an index admission for SVI/B vs 24,600,000 who did not. Patients with SVI/B had a 13.3% [4,383] readmission rate within 30-days compared to 8.4% [2,033,329] without SVI/B. Compared to readmitted patients without SVI/B patients, those with SVI/B were older (mean [SD] age: 64.4 [SD ± 19] vs. 61.4 [SD ± 20] years) and had more comorbidities (Charlson comorbidity score ≥ 3: 79.2% [ 3,471] vs 60.9% [1,238,299]). The mortality rate among patients readmitted with SVI/B was 5.38% [236] vs 4.02% [81,740] for patients without SVI/B, p-value = 0.016. Top reasons for readmissions among patients with SVI/B included sepsis 12% [526], heart failure 10.5% [460)], acute renal failure 4.4% [193], complications due to type II diabetes mellitus 4.1% [178], and pneumonia 2.7% [118]. Mean length of stay for readmitted patients with SVI/B was 6.3 days (confidence interval [CI]: 6.0-6.7 days), vs 5.6 days for patients without SVI/B (CI: 5.5–5.8 days), p-value < 0.01. The mean hospital charges for readmitted patients with SVI/B was $57,202 (CI: $53,712–$61,292) vs $51,582 (CI: $49,966–$53,198), p-value < 0.01. Conclusion Patients with SVI/B had higher readmission rates, and greater mortality on readmissions compared to those without SVI/B. Interventional studies for optimal discharge strategies are critically needed to improve clinical and resource utilization outcomes in patients with SVI/B.