We recently published a paper on predicting 30-day readmission for older adults with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Our purpose was to evaluate whether aging-related functional impairments in mobility, cognition, and sensory domains would help to predict whether AMI patients would be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, which has been subject of increasing focus by payors and health systems over the past decade. We analyzed data from the SILVER-AMI study, which exclusively enrolled participants aged ≥75 years, and included a detailed assessment of functional impairments.
What we found:
- Among 3006 study participants with AMI (mean age 81.5 years), 547 (18.2%) were readmitted within 30 days.
- Readmitted participants were older, with more comorbidities, and had a higher prevalence of functional impairments including disability in activities of daily living (17.0% vs. 13.0%), impaired functional mobility (72.5% vs. 53.6%) and weak grip strength (64.4% versus 59.2%).
- After statistical modeling, our final risk model included 8 variables: functional mobility, ejection fraction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arrhythmia, acute kidney injury, first diastolic blood pressure, P2Y12 inhibitor use, and general health status. While functional mobility was the only aging-related functional impairment retained in this model, it was also the strongest individual predictor.
Our risk model was well calibrated across categories of risk but had only modest discrimination – meaning there were other factors contributing to readmission risk (for example, related to the care environment or health system), that were not captured in SILVER-AMI.
Our hope is that our score can be used in a practical setting – for example, identifying patients for more intensive post-discharge care. Accordingly, our calculator is freely available at silverscore.org, or in the App Store here.
By: John Dodson, MD, MPH
aginghearts.org 