Association between number of doses per day, number of medications and patient's non-compliance, and frequency of readmissions in a multi-ethnic Asian population

•Patient's non-compliance can increase risk of unplanned readmissions.•The number of doses per day is a positive predictor of unplanned readmissions.•Higher number of medications is associated with more frequent readmissions.

ObjectiveTo investigate whether number of doses per day and number of medications are significantly associated with the number of readmissions and to study the association of readmission frequency with other medical and socio-demographic variables.MethodsRetrospective cross-sectional study involving 432 patients who were readmitted within 15 days of previous hospital discharge between January 1, 2013 and March 31, 2013. Relevant medical records were collected from the national electronic databases of every public tertiary hospital in Singapore. Significant variables (p < 0.05) were identified using forward selection and modeled using generalized linear mixed models.ResultsA total of 649 unplanned readmissions were reviewed. At a multivariable level, number of readmission was significantly associated with the number of medications (p = 0.002) and number of doses per day (p = 0.003) after adjusting for race, liver disease, schizophrenia and non-compliance.ConclusionComplex medication regimen (i.e. multiple medications and multiple doses per day) is a statistically significant predictor of number of readmissions. Simplifying therapeutic regimens with alternatives such as longer-acting or fixed-dose combination drugs may facilitate better patient adherence and reduce costly readmissions.