Validity of the LACE index for identifying frequent early readmissions after hospital discharge in children

The LACE index scoring tool has been designed to predict hospital readmissions in adults. We aimed to evaluate the ability of the LACE index to identify children at risk of frequent readmissions. We analysed data from alive-discharge episodes (1 April 2017 to 31 March 2019) for 6546 males and 5875 females from birth to 18 years. The LACE index predicted frequent all-cause readmissions within 28 days of hospital discharge with high accuracy: the area under the curve = 86.9% (95% confidence interval = 84.3–89.5%, p 4 (event rates, 3.7%) were at increased risk of frequent readmissions: age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio = 12.4 (95% confidence interval = 8.0–19.2, p 4 are at increased risk of frequent readmissions by 14-fold. • The cutoff of a LACE index of 4 may be a useful level to identify children at increased risk of frequent readmissions.