High hospital readmission rates for patients aged ≥65 years associated with low socioeconomic status in a Swedish region: a cross-sectional study in primary care

Figures & data

Figure 1. Total number of 30-day hospital readmission episodes (crude) and 30-day readmission rates for patients aged ≥65 in primary health care centres in primary care in Region Örebro County (Sweden).

Table 1. Descriptive data for 30-day hospital readmission rates for patients aged ≥65 years, socioeconomic factors, elderly care workload factors and total registered patients for 29 primary healthcare centres in Region Örebro County.

Variable	Mean (Standard Deviation)	Median (Minimum–Maximum)
Number hospital readmissions per 100 registered patients ≥65 years	7.7 (2.1)	7.7 (4.7–14.0)
Total registered patients	9,933.2 (3 868.9)	9,695 (3,202–20,454)
Proportion registered ≥80 years	5.6 (1.7)	5.8 (2.2–8.5)
Proportion registered ≥65 years	21.4 (5.3)	22.5 (10.9–28.5)
Residential care facility for elderly places^†	88.2 (52.6)	86.0 (10–224)
Proportion patients ≥75 years with ≥10 drugs	7.9 (1.8)	7.3 (5.6–13.3)
Sick-leave days among patients 60–64 years	82.1 (26.6)	79.0 (36–145)
Average income in thousands of SEK for patients ≥65 years	203.0 (31.2)	208.3 (131.3–268.2)
Proportion foreign-born	7.2 (6.4)	5.4 (1.2–33.9)
Proportion unemployed 16–64 years	11.2 (3.2)	10.6 (6.5–22.6)
Proportion low-educated 25–64 years	7.0 (2.1)	7.3 (3.2–13.4)
Care Need Index	1.0 (0.3)	1.0 (0.7–2.0)

^† Analysis includes 23 primary healthcare centres that reported residential care facility places for which they were responsible.

Table 2. Spearman’s correlation coefficients between hospital readmission rates and socioeconomic factors and elderly care work load factors.

Variables	Correlation coefficient
Care Need Index	0.74**
Unemployed aged 16–64	0.73**
Foreign-born	0.74**
Low-educated aged 25–64	0.27
Average income for those aged ≥65	−0.40*
Sick-leave rate among patients aged 60–64	0.51**
Registered aged ≥65	−0.25
Registered aged ≥80	−0.11
Registered aged ≥75 with ≥10 drugs	0.30
Residential care facility for elderly places	0.23

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed).

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

Figure 2. Linear regression between hospital readmission rates and the proportion of unemployed aged 16–64 years. (Circle-plots represent 29 primary healthcare centres in Region County Örebro).

Table 3. Difference in hospital readmission rates between primary healthcare centres according to whether they reported having strategies for eldercare and staff (designated nurse or doctor) for eldercare.

	N	%	Hospital readmission rates
			Mean (SD)	Median (Minimum–Maximum)	p-Value for difference
Strategy
Yes	11	40.7	8.0 (1.4)	7.9 (5.4–10.1)	0.14
No	16	59.3	7.2 (2.0)	7.2 (4.7–12.8)
Staff
Yes	16	59.3	7.8 (1.3)	7.9 (5.1–10.2)	0.17
No	11	40.7	7.1 (2.3)	7.4 (4.7–12.8)

N = Number of primary healthcare centres.

p-value by Mann–Whitney U test.