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Predictors of revisits within 1 year by patients after acute COVID-19: the HUBCOVID365 cohort study
Albert A, Jacob J, Malchair P, Llopis F, Fuentes L, MartĂn C, GarcĂa C
, RodrĂguez O, Ruibal JC, MartĂnez C, Fuentes E, Cordero M, GuillĂ©n L, Chamorro F, Quetglas S, FerrĂ© C
Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
Objective. To analyze the frequencies of 3 types of hospital revisits by patients after treatment for COVID-19 in the emergency department.
Methods. Retrospective observational study of consecutive patients who came to the emergency department in March and April 2020 and were discharged alive with a diagnosis of COVID-19. Baseline and acute episode data were collected and the patients were followed for 1 year. We analyzed variables associated with revisits for any reason, revisits related to COVID-19, and early COVID-19–related revisits (within 30 days).
Results. A total of 1352 patients with a mean age of 62.1 years (52.9% male) were studied. A total of 553 revisits were made by 342 patients (25.3%) for any reason; 132 (9.8%) revisited in relation to COVID-19 at least once. Of those, 103 (7.6%) revisited within 30 days (early) and 29 (2.2%) came later. COVID-19–related revisits were associated with thrombotic events (odds ratio [OR], 7.58; 95% CI, 1.75–32.81) and pulmonary fibrosis (OR, 4.95; 95% CI, 1.27–19.24); early revisits were inversely associated with follow-up management by a contracted health care support service (OR, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.03–0.92). Hospital admission during the initial visit was significantly associated with fewer revisits for any reason or related to COVID-19 at any time.
Conclusions. Fewer than half the total number of emergency department revisits after initial care for COVID-19 were related to the novel coronavirus infection. Revisits occurred more often in the first 30 days after discharge. Later COVID-19–related revisits were uncommon, but given the large number of patients with this infection, such visits can be expected.