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Rural Patients With Severe Sepsis or Septic Shock Who Bypass Rural Hospitals Have Increased Mortality: An Instrumental Variables Approach
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Rural Patients With Severe Sepsis or Septic Shock Who Bypass Rural Hospitals Have Increased Mortality: An Instrumental Variables Approach

Nicholas M Mohr, Karisa K Harland, Dan M Shane, Azeemuddin Ahmed, Brian M Fuller, Marcia M Ward and James C Torner
Critical care medicine, Vol.45(1), pp.85-93
01/2017
DOI: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000002026
PMCID: PMC5161646
PMID: 27611977
url
http://doi.org/10.1097/CCM.0000000000002026View
Open Access

Abstract

To identify factors associated with rural sepsis patients' bypassing rural emergency departments to seek emergency care in larger hospitals, and to measure the association between rural hospital bypass and sepsis survival. Observational cohort study. Emergency departments of a rural Midwestern state. All adults treated with severe sepsis or septic shock between 2005 and 2014, using administrative claims data. Patients bypassing local rural hospitals to seek care in larger hospitals. A total of 13,461 patients were included, and only 5.4% (n = 731) bypassed a rural hospital for their emergency department care. Patients who initially chose a top-decile sepsis volume hospital were younger (64.7 vs 72.7 yr; p < 0.001) and were more likely to have commercial insurance (19.6% vs 10.6%; p < 0.001) than those who were seen initially at a local rural hospital. They were also more likely to have significant medical comorbidities, such as liver failure (9.9% vs 4.2%; p < 0.001), metastatic cancer (5.9% vs 3.2%; p < 0.001), and diabetes with complications (25.2% vs 21.6%; p = 0.024). Using an instrumental variables approach, rural hospital bypass was associated with a 5.6% increase (95% CI, 2.2-8.9%) in mortality. Most rural patients with sepsis seek care in local emergency departments, but demographic and disease-oriented factors are associated with rural hospital bypass. Rural hospital bypass is independently associated with increased mortality.
Emergency Service, Hospital Age Factors Comorbidity Humans Middle Aged Shock, Septic - mortality Sepsis - mortality Neoplasm Metastasis Rural Population Midwestern United States - epidemiology Diabetes Complications - epidemiology Aged Liver Failure - epidemiology Insurance, Health Patient Transfer Cohort Studies

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