Thirty‐day hospital readmission rate amongst older adults correlates with an increased number of medications, but not with Beers medications

Aim We sought to explore the relationship between the number of medications at hospital discharge and 30‐day rehospitalization in older adults aged >65 years. Methods This was a multicenter cohort study to determine whether an increased number of medications was associated with 30‐day rehospitalization in patients aged >65 years. We explored the relationship between rehospitalization and other risk factors. Data were collected from a large health system in the New York metropolitan area from September 2011 to January 2013. The primary outcome was 30‐day hospital readmission from the index hospitalization. Results Patients had a mean ± SD age of 78 ± 9 years; 55% were women. The average length of stay after discharge from the hospital was 6 days. An increased number of medications was significantly associated with unplanned 30‐day hospital readmission (P