Prolonged effects of a home-based intervention in patients with chronic illness.
BACKGROUND
Data on the long-term benefits of nonspecific disease management programs are limited. We performed a long-term follow-up of a previously published randomized trial.


METHODS
We compared all-cause mortality and recurrent hospitalization during median follow-up of 7.5 years in a heterogeneous cohort of patients with chronic illness initially exposed to a multidisciplinary, home-based intervention (HBI) (n = 260) or to usual postdischarge care (n = 268).


RESULTS
During follow-up, HBI had no impact on all-cause mortality (relative risk, 1.04; 95% confidence interval, 0.80-1.35) or event-free survival from death or unplanned hospitalization (relative risk, 1.03; 95% confidence interval, 0.86-1.24). Initial analysis suggested that HBI had only a marginal impact in reducing unplanned hospitalization, with 677 readmissions vs 824 for the usual care group (mean +/- SD rate, 0.72 +/- 0.96 vs 0.84 +/- 1.20 readmissions/patient per year; P = .08). When accounting for increased hospital activity in HBI patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease during follow-up for 2 years, post hoc analyses showed that HBI reduced readmissions by 14% within 2 years in patients without this condition (mean +/- SD rate, 0.54 +/- 0.72 vs 0.63 +/- 0.88 readmission/patient per year; P = .04) and by 21% in all surviving patients within 3 to 8 years (mean +/- SD rate, 0.64 +/- 1.26 vs 0.81 +/- 1.61 readmissions/patient per year; P = .03). Overall, recurrent hospital costs were significantly lower (14%) in the HBI group (mean +/- SD, 823 dollars +/- 1642 dollars vs 960 dollars +/- 1376 dollars per patient per year; P = .045).


CONCLUSIONS
This unique study suggests that a nonspecific HBI provides long-term cost benefits in a range of chronic illnesses, except for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Division of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
Sue
S
Pearson
Sally C
SC
Inglis
Skye N
SN
McLennan
Lucy
L
Brennan
Mary
M
Russell
David
D
Wilkinson
David R
DR
Thompson
Simon
S
Stewart
D000058:Accidental Falls; D000368:Aged; D000789:Angina, Unstable / Q000453:epidemiology; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000191:economics; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology