The dual impact of rehabilitation admission and race/ethnicity on discharges against medical advice.
BACKGROUND
Predictors of hospital discharges against medical advice (AMA), including race/ethnicity, have been examined previously. However, the predictive effect of an admission for rehabilitative care has not been examined in an inpatient stroke population, nor has the impact of race/ethnicity on this relationship been reported.


METHODS
Live hospital discharges with a primary diagnosis of stroke from 2000-2005 were identified in a longitudinal dataset. The outcome of interest was a discharge AMA. A hierarchical logistic model was estimated to examine the effect of race/ethnicity and rehabilitative care on the outcome while controlling for patient and hospital characteristics.


RESULTS
A total of 569 of the 79,561 stroke admissions (0.7%) ended in a discharge AMA. There were 1,565 admissions for rehabilitative care and 32% of patients were non-Caucasian. Among Caucasians, adjusted odds of a discharge AMA were higher for patients with an admission for rehabilitative care (AOR = 3.83, p < 0.0001). Among those not admitted for rehabilitative care, non-Caucasian patients were more likely to leave AMA (AOR = 1.4; p = 0.0005).


CONCLUSIONS
This study identifies dependence between race/ethnicity, rehabilitative care, and discharges AMA. More research is needed to understand the implications of differential rates of discharges AMA among race/ethnic groups and across patient care settings.
Onukwugha
E
E
Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. eonukwug@rx.umaryland.edu
Weir
M R
MR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020521:Stroke / Q000208:ethnology*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation