Age stratified analysis of pre-operative factors impacting unplanned thirty day readmission in geriatric general surgery.

BACKGROUND

The geriatrics population can no longer be considered as one homogenous group when it comes to patient-centric and value-based care. We aim to determine if there are pre-operative factors which differ between geriatric age strata (65-74, 75-84, 85 + years) that impact unplanned thirty-day readmission.

METHODS

2015 NSQIP general surgery procedure data was utilized. Chi Square and t-tests were utilized to see if certain pre-operative factors impacted readmission. Regressions with age strata as an interaction term were run to determine if age was an effect-modifier. Significant pre-operative factors were included in a multivariate model with step-wise selection for significant age-stratification interaction terms.

RESULTS

Gender, inpatient status, wound classification, disseminated cancer, origin status, functional status, and RVU were significantly impacted by age strata in unadjusted models. Gender, inpatient status, emergency, and transfer/origin status were significant in our adjusted model.

CONCLUSIONS

Exogenous variables between age strata significantly impact unplanned thirty-day readmission in comparison to differing co-morbidity and symptomatology.