Background: The primary objective of this study is to identify non-laboratory predictors for 30-day hospital readmission and 180-day in-hospital mortality rates among patients hospitalized with ischemic heart disease (IHD).Research design and methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of hospitalized patients (≥ 40 years) with a primary diagnosis of IHD. Data were extracted from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration dataset from 2006 to 2016. A machine learning approach was used to identify predictors of 30-day hospital readmission and 180-day in-hospital mortality.Results: 346,390 patient records for incident IHD cases were identified. The top two predictors of 30-day readmission were the length of stay and the Elixhauser comorbidity index for readmission [ECI] (Area Under the Curve [AUC]=88%) using decision tree algorithms. For in-hospital mortality, the top two predictors were LOS and ECI (AUC=92%) using gradient boosting regressors. The cumulative 30-day readmission and the 180-day probability of mortality rates were 9.82% and 4.6% respectively.Conclusions: Risk factors of 30-day readmission and 180-day mortality in hospitalized IHD patients identified by machine learning and their relative importance (value) will help pharmacists and other health care providers to prioritize their disease management strategies as they improve the care provided to IHD patients.
Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; ischemic heart disease; machine learning; quality measures; risk factors.