Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24047062›Full record

ArticleThe New England journal of medicine2013

Variation in surgical-readmission rates and quality of hospital care.

Thomas C Tsai, Karen E Joynt, E John Orav, Atul A Gawande, Ashish K Jha

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The New England journal of medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 230 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
230citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
44.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

230 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 670 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Risk Factors for Early Hospital Readmission in Geriatric Patients: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023
    Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Article
  8. Challenges of Care Transition From Hospital to Home for Older Colorectal Surgery Patients: Surgeons' Perspectives.Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches · 2026
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Observational
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. [Clinical Practice and Quality Control Strategies for Complex Minimally Invasive Pancreatic Surgery].Sichuan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Sichuan University. Medical science edition · 2025
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Surgical transitional care interventions and their outcomes: a scoping review.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2025
    Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

170 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Thomas C TsaiDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Karen E Joynt
E John Orav
Atul A Gawande
Ashish K Jha
Brigham and Women's Hospital · USHarvard University · US

Funding

Program in Cancer Research Outcomes Training (PCORT)R25CA092203 · NCI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI GAZELLE, G SCOTT · 2002 to 2016
$8.2M
NCI NIH HHS L30 CA171208NCI NIH HHS R25 CA092203
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundReducing hospital-readmission rates is a clinical and policy priority, but little is known about variation in rates of readmission after major surgery and whether these rates at a given hospital are related to other markers of the quality of surgical care.

methodsUsing national Medicare data, we calculated 30-day readmission rates after hospitalization for coronary-artery bypass grafting, pulmonary lobectomy, endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm, open repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm, colectomy, and hip replacement. We used bivariate and multivariate techniques to assess the relationships between readmission rates and other measures of surgical quality, including adherence to surgical process measures, procedure volume, and mortality.

resultsFor the six index procedures, there were 479,471 discharges from 3004 hospitals. The median risk-adjusted composite readmission rate at 30 days was 13.1% (interquartile range, 9.9 to 17.1). In a multivariate model adjusting for hospital characteristics, we found that hospitals in the highest quartile for surgical volume had a significantly lower composite readmission rate than hospitals in the lowest quartile (12.7% vs. 16.8%, P<0.001), and hospitals with the lowest surgical mortality rates had a significantly lower readmission rate than hospitals with the highest mortality rates (13.3% vs. 14.2%, P<0.001). High adherence to reported surgical process measures was only marginally associated with reduced readmission rates (highest quartile vs. lowest quartile, 13.1% vs. 13.6%; P=0.02). Patterns were similar when each of the six major surgical procedures was examined individually.

conclusionsNearly one in seven patients hospitalized for a major surgical procedure is readmitted to the hospital within 30 days after discharge. Hospitals with high surgical volume and low surgical mortality have lower rates of surgical readmission than other hospitals.

Indexed as

Quality of Health CareAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHospitalizationHospitalsHumansMaleMedicareMultivariate AnalysisPatient DischargePatient ReadmissionRisk AdjustmentSurgical Procedures, OperativeUnited States

Identifiers

PMID24047062
PMCPMC4107655
OpenAlexW2148055370

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.