Acute health care service use among elderly home care clients.
Utilization of acute health care services accounts for a substantial proportion of health expenditures in Canada, and is associated with compromised health and autonomy for older persons. Using the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care (RAI-HC), this cross-sectional study of 683 elderly home care recipients sought to distinguish clients who were more likely to use acute health care services; i.e., hospital admissions, emergency room visits. Clients with nutritional problems were 2.58 times more likely to have used acute health care services than clients without nutritional problems. Among clients with a poor social support system, those with nutrition problems were 5.95 times as likely to have used acute health care services. Poor self-rated health, and greater functional dependency were also signif- icantly associated with acute health care use. This study provides a profile of elderly home care clients who are at risk of using acute health care services, which may facilitate targeted efforts to prevent unplanned acute health care use.
Canadian Healthcare Association, Ottawa, ON. kpaddock@cha.ca
Katharine
K
Paddock
John P
JP
Hirdes
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000208:Acute Disease / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006302:Health Services Research; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors