Impact of early follow-up from primary care on 30 days readmission after heart failure hospitalization

Introduction: Reducing heart failure (HF) admissions is one of the main objectives in disease control, due to its impact on prognosis and costs. The transitional models at discharge are imposed as a strategy capable of reducing hospitalizations, most of them based on specific hospital units. We analyzed the impact of the primary care (PC) post-discharge follow-up.Material and methods: Retrospective observational study at the referral area of a tertiary hos-pital. Linear regression analysis was performed between early follow-up from the PC center after HF admission rate and the 30-day all-cause readmission rate throughout 2021.Results: The degree of follow-up from PC after hospital discharge for heart failure is associated with fewer 30-day readmissions for all causes (Pearson's R = 0.53, P = .02); with a decrease of 20%, similar to that observed when it is performed from other care facilities and which is maintained when adjusting for the complexity of the patients.Conclusions: PC heart failure post-discharge follow-up could be effective in reducing hospita-lizations, and is complementary to that carried out by hospital units.(c) 2022 Sociedad Espanola de Medicos de Atencion Primaria (SEMERGEN). Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.