abstract
- "Bounce-backs" (movements from a less intensive to a more intensive care setting) soon after hospital discharge are common, but reasons for bouncing-back remain unknown.To examine how the primary diagnosis for first rehospitalization relates to thirty-day bounce-back number and initial discharge destination in acute stroke.Administrative data from 5,250 Medicare beneficiaries > or = 65 years discharged with acute ischemic stroke in 1998-2000 to a rehabilitation center, skilled nursing facility or home with home health care and with at least one thirty day rehospitalization.Probability of thirty-day bounce-back was calculated using multivariate models.Infections and aspiration pneumonitis were the most common reasons for rehospitalization, regardless of initial discharge site.Efforts addressing aspirations and infections, the preventable complications of immobility, will be critical in decreasing acute stroke bounce-backs.