Associations between community well-being and hospitalisation rates: results from a cross-sectional study within six US states

Brita Roy; Carley Riley; Jeph Herrin; Erica Spatz; Brent Hamar; Kenneth P Kell; Elizabeth Y Rula; Harlan Krumholz

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030017

Associations between community well-being and hospitalisation rates: results from a cross-sectional study within six US states

BMJ Open. 2019 Nov 27;9(11):e030017. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030017.

Authors

Brita Roy¹, Carley Riley^{2

3}, Jeph Herrin⁴, Erica Spatz^{5

4}, Brent Hamar⁶, Kenneth P Kell⁷, Elizabeth Y Rula⁸, Harlan Krumholz^{5

4

9}

Affiliations

¹ Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA brita.roy@yale.edu.
² Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
³ Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
⁴ Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
⁵ Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
⁶ Sharecare Inc, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
⁷ Tivity Health, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
⁸ Tivity Health, Franklin, Tennessee, USA.
⁹ Health Policy and Management, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the association between community well-being, a positively framed, multidimensional assessment of the health and quality of life of a geographic community, and hospitalisation rates.

Design: Cross-sectional study SETTING: Zip codes within six US states (Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania and Utah) MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Our primary outcome was age-adjusted, all-cause hospitalisation rates in 2010; secondary outcomes included potentially preventable disease-specific hospitalisation rates, including cardiovascular-related, respiratory-related and cancer-related admissions. Our main independent variable was the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index (WBI) and its domains (life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviours and basic access).

Results: Zip codes with the highest quintile of well-being had 223 fewer hospitalisations per 100 000 (100k) residents than zip codes with the lowest well-being. In our final model, adjusted for WBI respondent age, sex, race/ethnicity and income, and zip code number of hospital beds, primary care physician density, hospital density and admission rates for two low-variation conditions, a 1 SD increase in WBI was associated with 5 fewer admissions/100k (95% CI 4.0 to 5.8; p<0.001). Results were similar for cardiovascular-related and respiratory-related admissions, but no association remained for cancer-related hospitalisation after adjustment. Patterns were similar for each of the WBI domains and all-cause hospitalisations.

Conclusion and relevance: Community well-being is inversely associated with local hospitalisation rates. In addition to health and quality-of-life benefits, higher community well-being may also result in fewer unnecessary hospitalisations.

Keywords: community health; healthcare utilisation; hospitalisation rates; population health; preventive medicine; well-being.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Age Factors
Aged
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Health Status*
Hospitalization / statistics & numerical data*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Quality of Life*
Socioeconomic Factors*
United States

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding