Readmissions after thoracic endovascular aortic repair.

OBJECTIVE: The care of patients undergoing thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) can be resource intensive, which can be driven by readmissions. Our objective was to characterize index readmissions at 30, 90, and 180 days after TEVAR.

METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the Nationwide Readmissions Database was performed for patients who underwent TEVAR in 2013. Multivariable analysis identified independent predictors for index readmission at 30, 90, and 180 days.

RESULTS: There were 4045 TEVARs performed for descending thoracic aortic dissection (37.7%), nonruptured aneurysm (56%), and ruptured aneurysm (6.3%). There were 419 (11.1%) index readmissions at 30 days, 895 (23.6%) at 90 days, and 1131 (29.8%) at 180 days. The most frequent reason for index readmission was heart related at 30 days (15.5%) and aorta related at 90 days (18%) and 180 days (19.6%). Reinterventions were performed at 6.4%, 9.5%, and 9.7% of 30-, 90-, and 180-day readmissions, respectively. The majority of these included additional endovascular stent graft placement (51.9% of reinterventions at 30 days, 67.7% at 90 days, and 65.9% at 180 days). In multivariable analysis, 30-day index readmission was associated with initial ruptured presentation (odds ratio [OR], 1.48; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-3.5; P = .023) and diagnosis-related group (DRG) severity grades of moderate (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 0.74-2.73), major (OR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.28-4.74), and extreme (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 0.76-3.36; P = .009). Index readmission at 90 days was independently associated with initial ruptured presentation (OR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.18-3.01; P = .008), urgent/emergent TEVAR (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.08-1.85; P = .014), and DRG severity grades of moderate (OR, 1.53; 95% CI, 0.95-2.47), major (OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.39-3.7), and extreme (OR, 2.45; 95% CI, 1.43-4.18; P = .002). Finally, at 180 days, initial ruptured presentation (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.05-2.62; P = .029), urgent/emergent TEVAR (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.08-1.79; P = .013), and DRG severity grades of moderate (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.01-2.38), major (OR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.38-3.33), and extreme (OR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.47-3.89; P = .002) were, again, independently associated with index readmission.

CONCLUSIONS: A large portion of patients treated with TEVAR were readmitted most commonly for heart-related reasons at 30 days and aorta-related reasons at 90 and 180 days. TEVAR performed to treat initial aortic rupture and greater DRG severity grade were independently associated with an index readmission at 30, 90, and 180 days. Urgent/emergent TEVAR was independently associated with an index readmission at 90 and 180 days. These factors are important to consider in using readmissions as a quality measure.