NEWS & VIEWS TRANSPLANTATION

Early hospital readmissions after kidney transplantation Martha Pavlakis

A new study reports that 30.5% of kidney transplant recipients have an early hospital readmission (EHR; defined as within 30 days of discharge). As EHR is a strong independent risk factor for allograft loss and mortality, efforts should be made to implement and improve systems to minimize risk of EHR in these patients. Pavlakis, M. Nat. Rev. Nephrol. 10, 188–189 (2014); published online 4 March 2014; doi:10.1038/nrneph.2014.32

McAdams-DeMarco and co-workers have examined early hospital readmissions (EHRs) following kidney transplantation, defined as admission to any acute care hospital within 30 days of discharge.1–3 Previously, these researchers studied a cohort of 32,961 adult first-time, kidney-only recipients who received a transplant between 2000 and 2005 (reported to the Organ Procurement Transplantation Network [OPTN] and linked to Medicare claims data)1 as well as 383 kidney transplant recipients at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, USA, transplanted between 2008 and 2012.2 In their most recent publication, the researchers used the OPTN cohort to examine the relationship between EHR and subsequent adverse events, including graft loss and death.3 The researchers report that 30.5% of kidney transplant recipients had an EHR. Of those patients, nearly 30% also had a late hospital readmission (LHR), defined as admission within 1 year following EHR.3

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188  |  APRIL 2014  |  VOLUME 10

The strongest association between EHR and LHR was in recipients of living-donor kidneys who experienced delayed graft function (DGF). More importantly, graft survival was decreased for kidney transplant recipients who experienced EHR, both in ­recipients of kidneys from deceased donors (83% versus 75% at 5 years, P 

Transplantation: early hospital readmissions after kidney transplantation.

A new study reports that 30.5% of kidney transplant recipients have an early hospital readmission (EHR; defined as within 30 days of discharge). As EH...
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