Inpatient rehabilitation facility discharge destination among younger adults with traumatic brain injury: differences by race and ethnicity

ABSTRACT

Objective

: To determine the association of race and ethnicity with discharge destination among patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) receiving inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) care.

Design

Secondary analysis using Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation data.

Methods

: Patients (N = 99,614) diagnosed with TBI, age 18–64, admitted for IRF care between 2002 and 2018. Logistic regression was used to analyze data.

Outcome

: Discharge destination (home/community vs. subacute settings).

Results

: Most younger adults (age 18–64) with TBI were discharged home (89.24%) after IRF care vs. subacute (10.76%). Of those discharged home, 63.16% were white, 10.42% Black, 8.94% Hispanic/Latino, and 6.72% other races/ethnicities. After adjusting for covariates, patients who were Hispanic/Latino [OR = 1.26; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.37] and other race/ethnicities [OR = 1.10; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.21] (vs. White) had higher odds of discharge home vs. subacute. There was no difference in discharge destination for Black patients (vs. white). Predictors of discharge destination for groups stratified by race/ethnicity varied.

Conclusions

: Younger patients with TBI who were Hispanic/Latino or other races/ethnicities (vs. white) were more likely to go home vs. subacute. Findings can be used to inform IRF planning, resource allocation, and transitional care planning.

KEYWORDS:

• [MeSH]: Brain Injuries
• traumatic
• rehabilitation
• race Factors
• patient Discharge
• health Care Facilities
• manpower
• Services
• outcome Assessment
• Health Care

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Ziqi Zhang for assisting with manuscript formatting. The data for this study were obtained and used with permission from the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, a division of UB Foundation Activities, Inc.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, Grant #P2CHD065702, PI Ottenbacher and Grant #U54MD012530; PI, Johnson, Investigator, Oyesanya