Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25077133›Full record

ArticleCMAJ open2014

Site of hospital readmission and mortality: a population-based retrospective cohort study.

John A Staples, Deva Thiruchelvam, Donald A Redelmeier

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in CMAJ open, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
31citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
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  6. Article
  7. Observational
  8. Community-acquired Pneumonia in People With HIV During the Current Era of Effective Antiretroviral Therapy: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025
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  15. Outcomes in patients with and without disability admitted to hospital with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2022
    Article
  16. Observational
  17. Article
  18. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2021
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  19. Characteristics and outcomes of hospital admissions for COVID-19 and influenza in the Toronto area.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2021
    Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

John A StaplesInstitute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Ont. ; Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.
Deva ThiruchelvamInstitute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Ont.
Donald A RedelmeierDepartment of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont. ; Evaluative Clinical Sciences Platform, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ont.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUnplanned hospital readmission is a complex process, particularly if the patient is readmitted to an acute care institution other than the original hospital. This study tested the hypothesis that readmission to an alternative hospital is associated with increased mortality compared with readmission to the original hospital.

methodsWe performed a population-based retrospective cohort analysis set between 1995 and 2010 for all 21 acute care adult general hospitals in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Participants were consecutive adults (age ≥ 18 yr) readmitted through the emergency department within 30 days after hospital discharge. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality within 30 days after readmission.

resultsOf the 198 149 patients included in the study, 38 134 (19.2%) died within 30 days after readmission. Patients readmitted to an alternative hospital were more likely than those readmitted to the original hospital to be older, reside in a chronic-care facility and arrive by ambulance. Alternative-hospital readmission was associated with a higher risk of death within 30 days (22.3% v. 18.6%, p < 0.001; odds ratio [OR] 1.26, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.23-1.30). The increased risk was substantially less after adjustment for patient- and hospital-level covariables (adjusted OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.02-1.10). Unadjusted Kaplan-Meier survival curves separated early and the absolute difference in mortality continued throughout the entire 1-year follow-up period, but no difference between groups was observed based on adjusted survival analyses.

interpretationAmong patients readmitted within 30 days after discharge, readmission to an alternative hospital was associated with a higher risk of death than readmission to the original hospital. Whether this adverse prognosis reflects a true causal relation or residual confounding is unknown.

Identifiers

PMID25077133
PMCPMC4084742

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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.