NYMC Faculty Publications
Digoxin and 30-Day All-Cause Readmission in Long-Term Care Residents Hospitalized for Heart Failure
DOI
10.1016/j.jamda.2017.03.016
Journal Title
Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
First Page
761
Last Page
765
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2017
Department
Medicine
Keywords
Digoxin; heart failure drug therapy; hospital readmission; nursing home, aged, homes for the aged, hospitalization, propensity score, anti-arrhythmia agents, Alabama
Disciplines
Cardiology | Cardiovascular Diseases | Health and Medical Administration | Medicine and Health Sciences | Therapeutics
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Digoxin use has been shown to be associated with a lower risk of 30-day all-cause hospital readmissions in older patients with heart failure (HF). In the current study, we examined this association among long-term care (LTC) residents hospitalized for HF. METHODS: Of the 8049 Medicare beneficiaries discharged alive after hospitalization for HF from 106 Alabama hospitals, 545 (7%) were LTC residents, of which 227 (42%) received discharge prescriptions for digoxin. Propensity scores for digoxin use, estimated for each of the 545 patients, were used to assemble a matched cohort of 158 pairs of patients receiving and not receiving digoxin who were balanced on 29 baseline characteristics. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for outcomes associated with digoxin among matched patients were estimated using Cox regression models. RESULTS: Matched patients (n = 316) had a mean age of 83 years, 74% were women, and 18% African American. Thirty-day all-cause readmission occurred in 21% and 20% of patients receiving and not receiving digoxin, respectively (HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.63-1.66). Digoxin had no association with all-cause mortality (HR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.48-1.70), HF readmission (HR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.38-2.12), or a combined endpoint of all-cause readmission or all-cause mortality (HR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.65-1.45) at 30 days. These associations remained unchanged at 1 year postdischarge. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of an association between digoxin and 30-day all-cause readmission in older nursing home residents hospitalized for HF is intriguing and needs to be interpreted with caution given the small sample size.
Recommended Citation
Sheriff, H., Thogaripally, M., Panjrath, G., Arundel, C., Zeng, Q., Fonarow, G., Butler, J., Fletcher, R., Morgan, C., Blackman, M., Deedwania, P., Love, T., Aronow, W., Anker, S., Allman, R., & Ahmed, A. (2017). Digoxin and 30-Day All-Cause Readmission in Long-Term Care Residents Hospitalized for Heart Failure. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 18 (9), 761-765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2017.03.016
