Hospital and outpatient clinic use among older people after starting continuing care
Author Information
Author(s): Anna Condelius, Ingalill R Hallberg, Ulf Jakobsson
Primary Institution: Lund University
Hypothesis
What is the rate of hospital and outpatient clinic utilization among older people with varying numbers of hospital stays in the first year after initiating continuing care?
Conclusion
Older people with three or more hospital stays in the first year after starting continuing care continue to have the highest rates of hospital and outpatient clinic utilization in subsequent years.
Supporting Evidence
- 57% of participants had no hospital stays in the first year.
- Those with three or more hospital stays accounted for 57% of hospital stays in the first year.
- 27% of those with three or more hospital stays in the first year had the same in the second year.
Takeaway
This study looked at older people who started continuing care and found that those who went to the hospital a lot in the first year kept going back more than others.
Methodology
The study followed 1079 older adults over 3-5 years, categorizing them based on their hospital stays in the first year after starting continuing care.
Potential Biases
There is a risk of underestimation of health complaints due to reliance on staff assessments rather than self-reports from participants.
Limitations
The study had a high mortality rate among participants, which may affect the results, and there were issues with data quality and missing values.
Participant Demographics
Participants were aged 65 and older, with a mean age of 80.4 years; 64.5% were women.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.05
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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