Yonsei University College of Medicine Reports Findings in Heart Failure (Effects of Physician Volume on Readmission and Mortality in Elderly Patients…

Health & Medicine Week

Yonsei University College of Medicine Reports Findings in Heart Failure (Effects of Physician Volume on Readmission and Mortality in Elderly Patients with Heart Failure: Nationwide Cohort Study)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Week -- Fresh data on Heart Disorders and Diseases - Heart Failure are presented in a new report. According to news reporting from Seoul, South Korea, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, "Readmission and mortality rates of patients with heart failure are good indicators of care quality. To determine whether hospital resources are associated with care quality for cardiac patients, we analyzed the effect of number of physicians and the combined effects of number of physicians and beds on 30-day readmission and 1-year mortality."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the Yonsei University College of Medicine, "We used national cohort sample data of the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) claims in 2002-2013. Subjects comprised 2345 inpatients (age: >65 years) admitted to acute-care hospitals for heart failure. A multivariate Cox regression was used. Of the 2345 patients hospitalized with heart failure, 812 inpatients (34.6%) were readmitted within 30 days and 190 (8.1%) had died within a year. Heart-failure patients treated at hospitals with low physician volumes had higher readmission and mortality rates than high physician volumes [30-day readmission: hazard ratio (HR)=1.291, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.020-1.633; 1-year mortality: HR=2.168, 95% CI=1.415-3.321]. Patients admitted to hospitals with low or middle bed and physician volume had higher 30-day readmission and 1-year mortality rates than those admitted to hospitals with high volume (30-day readmission: HR=2.812, 95% CI=1.561-5.066 for middle-volume beds & low-volume physicians, 1-year mortality: HR=8.638, 95% CI=2.072-36.02 for middle-volume beds & low-volume physicians). Physician volume is related to lower readmission and mortality for heart failure."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Of interest, 30-day readmission and 1-year mortality were significantly associated with the combined effects of physician and institution bed volume."

For more information on this research see: Effects of Physician Volume on Readmission and Mortality in Elderly Patients with Heart Failure: Nationwide Cohort Study. Yonsei Medical Journal, 2018;59(2):243-251 (see also Heart Disorders and Diseases - Heart Failure).

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting J.E. Lee, Dept. of Public Health, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include E.C. Park, S.Y. Jang, S.A. Lee, Y.S. Choy and T.H Kim.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2018.59.2.243. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Asia, Seoul, Hospitals, Cardiology, South Korea, Heart Disease, Heart Failure, Clinical Research, Health and Medicine, Clinical Trials and Studies, Heart Disorders and Diseases, Cardiovascular Diseases and Conditions.