Patients with repeated acute admissions to somatic departments: sociodemographic characteristics, disease burden, and contact with primary healthcare sector - a retrospective register-based case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare systems face escalating capacity challenges and patients with repeated acute admissions strain hospital resources disproportionately. However, studies investigating the characteristics of such patients across all public healthcare providers in a universal healthcare system are lacking.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate characteristics of patients with repeated acute admissions (three or more acute admissions within a calendar year) in regard to sociodemographic characteristics, disease burden, and contact with the primary healthcare sector.

METHODS: This matched register-based case-control study investigated repeated acute admissions from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2018, among individuals, who resided in four Danish municipalities. The study included 6169 individuals with repeated acute admissions, matched 1:4 to individuals with no acute admissions and one to two acute admissions, respectively. Group comparisons were conducted using conditional logistic regression.

RESULTS: Receiving social benefits increased the odds of repeated acute admissions 9.5-fold compared with no acute admissions (odds ratio (OR) 9.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) 8.5; 10.6) and 3.4-fold compared with one to two acute admissions (OR 3.4; 95% CI 3.1; 3.7). The odds of repeated acute admissions increased with the number of used medications and chronic diseases. Having a mental illness increased the odds of repeated acute admissions 5.8-fold when compared with no acute admissions (OR 5.7; 95% CI 5.2; 6.4) and 2.3-fold compared with one to two acute admissions (OR 2.3; 95% CI 2.1; 2.5). Also, high use of primary sector services (e.g. nursing care) increased the odds of repeated acute admissions when compared with no acute admissions and one to two acute admissions.

CONCLUSIONS: This study pinpointed key factors encompassing social status, disease burden, and healthcare utilisation as pivotal markers of risk for repeated acute admissions, thus identifying high-risk patients and facilitating targeted intervention.