Social determinants of health associated with hospital readmissions of people with HIV

Objective: To assess the association between social determinants of health and occurrence of hospital readmissions of people living with HIV.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, with data from 262 medical records of people with HIV who were hospitalized within a 12-month period, in Fortaleza, Ceara. Medical records available in full in the hospital file were included. The outcome variable was analyzed in two ways: readmission as a dichotomous variable (yes/ no) and in a multinomial way, through the number of readmissions (none, 1-2, 3 or & GE;4 readmissions). P<0.05 was considered significant with a confidence level of 95%.Results: Of the people who used illicit drugs, 63% (n=51) were readmitted, compared to 47.3% (n=71) of those who did not use them (p=0.02). There was readmission in 66.7% (n=36) of people who earned up to one minimum wage and 48% (n=71) of those who earned between one and two minimum wages. There was a percentage of 30.8% (n=12) of rehospitalization in those away from work; 41.3% (n=26) in people who were performing work activities; and 60.9% (n=70) of readmission in unemployed.Conclusion: The individual social determinant of health related to readmissions that stood out was age & GE; 40 years. Regarding the proximal determinants, illicit drug use was more related to the readmissions recorded. The intermediate determinant with the highest evidence of rehospitalization was related to the employment situation, since unemployed individuals had a higher percentage of three or more hospitalizations. Thus, the social determinants of health with an impact on the occurrence of hospital readmissions of people living with HIV were illicit drug use, people who received less than or equal to a minimum wage and who were unemployed.