The objective of this study was to identify risk factors associated with 30-day hospital readmission in patients admitted with stroke in a major urban hospital network.

Hospital readmissions are associated with poor health outcomes for patients including illness severity and medical complications. Additionally, there is significant accompanying cost to the patient and resource burden to the medical field. We aimed to determine specific patient features associated with risk for readmission in our stroke patient population.

In total, 130 readmitted stroke patients were compared to 110 stroke patients who were not readmitted. Readmission was associated with presence of hemorrhagic stroke (OR = 2.62, 95% CI [1.21, 5.7], p = 0.013), history of malignancy (OR = 3.33, 95% CI [1.38, 8.07], p = 0.005), history of dementia (OR = 3.59, 95% CI [1.30, 9.97], p = 0.010), and not receiving a hospital follow-up call after discharge (OR = 0.41, 95% CI [0.23, 0.73], p = 0.012). There was no difference in age, sex, race or insurance status between readmitted and non-readmitted patients (p > 0.27).

These data may be used to identify stroke patients at risk of requiring hospital readmission and could be used to prioritize interventions in these specific populations.