The Impact of Environmental Health Factors on Rates of Hospital Readmission

Introduction: readmissions to the hospital are a key indicator of both the quality of care and how much it costs. However, external health factors that affect return rates have not been studied much. This study tries to fill in that gap by looking at how certain surrounding factors affect how often people have to go back to the hospital. Method: a retrospective cohort study was done using data from 10,000 hospital patients over five years. Environmental data, such as air quality, water quality, and population density, were combined with hospital discharge records. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to account for factors that could affect the results, such as age, gender, illnesses, and the reason for the first hospitalisation. Findings: the results show a strong link between bad air quality and more people having to go back to the hospital (OR=1,45, 95 % CI 1,22-1,73). In the same way, lower water quality was linked to a higher chance of being readmitted, especially for heart and lung diseases. Different health results were not always affected by the amount of people living in cities. Conclusion: environmental health issues, especially the quality of the air and water, have a big impact on the number of times people have to go back to the hospital. These findings show how important it is for healthcare policies to include environmental health knowledge and measures to lower avoidable readmissions. This will improve patient results and lower the cost of running healthcare systems.