Clinical and Demographic Characteristics, Frequency, and Reasons for Emergency Department Visits Among Patients Receiving Home Health Care

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the demographic and clinical characteristics and reasons for emergency department (ED) visits among patients receiving home health care services and to investigate the impact of comorbidity burden on 30-day ED revisits. Materials and Methods:This retrospective study was conducted in the ED of Mamak State Hospital.Patients receiving home health care services who presented to the ED between August 2023 and December 2024 were included.Demographic and clinical data of 299 patients were obtained from hospital records.Comorbidity burden was assessed using the Charlson Comorbidity index (CCI).The primary outcome was an ED revisit within 30 days.Statistical analyses included Mann-Whitney U test, chi-square test, ROC analysis, and logistic regression.Results: Among 299 patients, 62 (20.7%) had a 30-day ED revisit.Patients with revisits had significantly higher CCI scores than those without revisits [median 6 (4-8) vs. 5 (3.5-6); p <0.001)].ROC analysis showed that the CCI had moderate discriminative ability to predict revisits (area under the curve= 0.626).At a cut-off value of CCI >6, specificity was 78.1% and sensitivity was 40.3%.In multivariate analysis, CCI was an independent predictor of 30-day revisits (odds ratio: 1.231; 95% confidence interval: 1.075-1.410;p=0.003).Infectious causes were more frequent among patients with revisits, although the difference was of borderline statistical significance (p=0.057). Conclusion:Comorbidity burden is an important predictor of 30-day ED revisits among patients receiving home health care services.The CCI may help identify high-risk patients and guide closer follow-up with the aim of reducing recurrent ED visits.