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.
Paddock
Katharine
K
Canadian Healthcare Association, Ottawa, ON. kpaddock@cha.ca
Hirdes
John P
JP
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