To characterize reasons for rehospitalization of Veterans and Service Members with mild, moderate, and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) who received inpatient rehabilitation at a Veterans Affairs (VA) Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center (PRC) up to 10 years postinjury. TBI is a chronic condition, and a subset of TBI survivors experience rehospitalization after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation. Extant literature focuses primarily on persons with moderate-to-severe TBI and utilizes broad categories when determining readmission reasons. The present study aimed to delineate with greater specificity the reasons for rehospitalization up to 10 years postinjury across the TBI severity spectrum.

Participants were drawn from the VA TBI Model Systems multicenter longitudinal study for a cross-sectional analysis. Eligibility criteria included TBI diagnosis per case definition; age > 16 years at TBI; admitted for inpatient rehabilitation at one of the five VA PRCs; and informed consent by the participant or legally authorized representative. At follow up interviews 1, 2, 5, and 10 years post-TBI, participants were asked whether they were rehospitalized within the past year (up to five admissions). Rehospitalizations were classified according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project classification (18 categories). In the present analyses, TBI severity was classified by duration of posttraumatic amnesia (PTA; 0-1 days=mild, 2+ days=moderate-severe). Statistical analyses were conducted in SPSS.

Participants (N=1101; n=338 0-1 days PTA, n=513 2+ days PTA, n=250 no PTA data) ranged in age from 17 years to 91 years at the time of interview. Participants across all follow up timepoints reported 317 rehospitalizations in the past year. 19.45% of Year 1 participants, 24.37% of Year 2 participants, 16.19% of Year 5 participants, and 16.25% of Year 10 participants reported 1+ rehospitalizations in the past year. When controlling for age, participants with at least 2 days of PTA were more likely to be rehospitalized at least once compared to those with 0-1 days of PTA at Year 2 (OR=4.05, p<0.001) and Year 5 (OR=2.39, p=0.03) post-TBI. The three most common reasons for rehospitalization across all timepoints were injury and poisoning (17.3%), mental illness (16.7%), and diseases of the nervous system and sense organs (9.1%). Mental illness was the modal reason for rehospitalization at Years 2, 5, and 10, frequently due to substance- or alcohol-related disorders and suicide/intentional self-inflicted injury.

Compared to prior research, rates of rehospitalization were lower in this sample across follow-up time points. The inclusion of mild TBI in this analysis may partially explain the discrepancy. Importantly, two of the top three rehospitalization reasons are potentially preventable, and strategies to reduce risk of re-injury and minimize escalation of psychiatric distress should therefore be explored. Psychoeducation, supervision, and mental health support during the transition from hospital to community should be considered in order mitigate preventable causes of rehospitalization among long-term TBI survivors.