Risk Factors for Revisiting After Emergency Department Discharge: a Longitudinal Retrospective Chart Review

Abstract Background: Emergency department (ED) patients are often discharged after treatment for minor illnesses. However, many of these patients revisit the ED. This study aimed to describe ED revisit rate and investigate the risk factors for 3-day/30-day ED revisit. Methods: A longitudinal retrospective chart review was used to extract data regarding predisposing factors (e.g. gender, age), enabling factors (e.g. economic status, ambulance use) and need factors (e.g. diagnosis at ED discharge, history of diseases), from the medical charts of patients discharged from an ED in Tokyo, Japan, from February to December 2013. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to predict 3-day/30-day ED revisit based on initial visit information. Results: During the studied period, 8,754 patients were discharged from the ED, of whom 48.8% were men, and the mean age was 39.7 years. Of these, 338 (3.9%) revisited the ED within three days and 682 (7.8%) revisited the ED within 30 days of discharge. In the multiple logistic regression analysis, risk factors for 3-day ED revisits were: having a history of same hospital use, arriving by ambulance, having a common problem (e.g. fever), and history of asthma. Risk factors for 30-day ED revisits were using health care services and having a history of same hospital use. Conclusions: In this study, the rate of ED revisit was less than that reported by other studies, which might be because most patients included in this study usually visited the hospital. Our results show that the predictive factors for 3-day/30-day ED revisit in Japan were similar to those in other countries. Patients with the abovementioned factors should be carefully screened on their initial ED visit, and some follow-up care in clinical and community settings should be arranged.