Factors Predicting Hospital Readmission within One Year among Patients with Heart Failure after Hospital Discharge

Abstract

This study investigates the predictive relationship of various factors associated with hospital readmission within one year among patients with heart failure. The participants were 130 patients with heart failure treated at the outpatient department of a general hospital in Udon Thani province from January to April 2024. The research tools included personal information, medical history, a health literacy assessment (Cronbach's alpha = .94), and a family support scale (content accuracy = 0.90, Cronbach's alpha = .95). Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression.

The results show that the incidence of hospital readmission within one year for patients with heart failure was 45.40% (n = 59). Age, health literacy, and family support were significant predictors of hospital readmission, accounting for 69.20% of the variance. Patients aged 49-59 and 59-69 were six times more likely to be readmitted than those aged 69-79 (OR 6.68 ; 95%CI 1.67-26.71, p < 0.05 and OR 6.28; 95%CI 1.88-21.03, p < 0.05, respectively). Patients with moderate health literacy were more than four times more likely to be readmitted to the hospital compared to those with very good health literacy (OR 4.05; 95% CI 1.20-13.90,
p < 0.05). Additionally, patients with moderate family support were more than three times more likely to be readmitted to the hospital compared to those with high family support (OR 3.40 ; 95% CI 1.18-9.74, p < 0.05).

The study suggests that further research should focus on reducing readmission rates by developing programs that consider age, health knowledge, and family support.