Age stratified analysis of pre-operative factors impacting unplanned thirty day readmission in geriatric general surgery

Background: The geriatrics population can no longer be considered as one homogenous group when it comes to patient-centric and value-based care. We aim to determine if there are pre-operative factors which differ between geriatric age strata (65–74, 75–84, 85 + years) that impact unplanned thirty-day readmission. Methods: 2015 NSQIP general surgery procedure data was utilized. Chi Square and t-tests were utilized to see if certain pre-operative factors impacted readmission. Regressions with age strata as an interaction term were run to determine if age was an effect-modifier. Significant pre-operative factors were included in a multivariate model with step-wise selection for significant age-stratification interaction terms. Results: Gender, inpatient status, wound classification, disseminated cancer, origin status, functional status, and RVU were significantly impacted by age strata in unadjusted models. Gender, inpatient status, emergency, and transfer/origin status were significant in our adjusted model. Conclusions: Exogenous variables between age strata significantly impact unplanned thirty-day readmission in comparison to differing co-morbidity and symptomatology.