Obesity Metabolic Phenotypes and Unplanned Readmission Risk in Diabetic Kidney Disease: An Observational Study from the Nationwide Readmission Database

Background and Aim. Obesity is a potentially modifiable factor for reducing readmissions, with heterogeneity that varies according to the metabolic status. Our objective was to examine the independent or mutual relationship between obesity and metabolic abnormalities and diabetic kidney disease (DKD)-related hospitalizations.Methods. 493,570 subjects with DKD were enrolled in the 2018 Nationwide Readmission Database (NRD, United States). The at-risk population was reclassified into refined obesity subtypes based on the body mass index (BMI) classification of metabolic abnormalities (hy-pertension and/or dyslipidemia) to investigate the 180 d readmission risk and hospitalization costs related to DKD.Results. The overall readmission rate was 34.1%. Patients with metabolic abnormalities, re-gardless of obesity, had a significantly higher risk of readmission compared to non-obese counterparts (adjusted HR, 1.11 [95% CI, 1.07-1.14]; 1.12 [95% CI, 1.08-1.15]). Hyperten-sion appeared to be the only metabolic factor associated with readmission among individu-als with DKD. Obesity without metabolic abnormalities was independently associated with readmission (adjusted HR,1.08 [1.01,1.14]), especially among males and those > 65 years (adjusted HR,1.10 [1.01-1.21]; 1.20 [1.10-1.31]). Women or those & LE;65 years with metabolic abnormalities (all p < 0.050) had elevated readmission rates, regardless of obesity; however, no such trend was observed in obese subjects without metabolic abnormalities (adjusted HR, 1.06 [0.98,1.16]). Additionally, obesity and metabolic abnormalities were associated with elevated hospitalization costs (all p < 0.0001).Conclusions. Increased BMI and hypertension are positively associated with readmissions and related costs among patients with DKD, which should be considered in future stud-ies.& COPY; 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )

Automated summary

This study investigated the relationship between obesity, metabolic abnormalities, and hospitalizations related to diabetic kidney disease (DKD). The findings showed that both metabolic abnormalities and obesity were independently associated with increased readmission risk and hospitalization costs for DKD.