Nationwide readmissions after tonsillectomy among pediatric patients - United States

Objectives: 1) Investigate incidence and predictors of readmissions after tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy (T&A) in children. 2) Identify factors that may predict readmission. Settings: Nationwide cross-sectional survey of US hospital admissions. Subjects: and Methods: The 2013 Nationwide Readmission Database (NRD) was used to examine all-cause readmissions within 30 days of T&A in children (age <18 years). Logistic regression was used to analyze the associations of demographics, diagnosis, insurance status, length of index stay, and median household income with readmission. Results: 9079 children undergoing T&A resulted in 327 (3.6%) patients requiring readmission. The average age of children readmitted were 5.0 years and they were 51% female. The most common readmission diagnoses were dehydration (47%), hemorrhage (26%), and pain (16%). The average time to readmission was 7.3 days. The average times to readmission for hemorrhage, pain and dehydration were 6.3, 4.5 and 4.1 days, respectively. Children who needed respiratory intubation (OR = 4.0), had a medical or surgical complication (OR = 3.3), or prolonged hospital stay (OR = 1.03) during the index admission were more likely to be readmitted. Age, gender, payer and socioeconomic status and diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) did not increase the odds of readmission. Conclusions: Readmissions in children after T&A were primarily due to dehydration, hemorrhage, and pain. Adequate symptom control in children has the greatest potential to reduce readmission rates following T&A.