Day care service use is associated with lower mortality in community-dwelling frail older people.
OBJECTIVE
To clarify the association between day care service use and 21-month mortality in community-dwelling frail older people.


METHODS
Prospective cohort study (the Nagoya Longitudinal Study for Frail Elderly).


METHODS
Community-based.


METHODS
One thousand six hundred seventy-three community-dwelling older people (540 men, 1,133 women).


METHODS
Data included the clients' demographic characteristics; depression as assessed using the short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale; a rating for basic activities of daily living (ADLs); comorbidity; number of prescribed medications and physician-diagnosed chronic diseases; use of home-care services, including day care, visiting nurse, and home-help services; and number of regular medical checkups. Survival analysis of 21-month mortality was conducted using Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models.


RESULTS
Of the 1,673 participants, 726 were day care service users at baseline, and 268 (94 day care service users, 174 nonusers) died during the 21-month follow-up. Multivariate Cox regression models adjusting for potential confounders showed that day care service use was associated with reduction in mortality. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that day care service use was associated with less risk of mortality in subjects who were female; were in the youngest age group (65-74); had higher ADL scores, lower comorbidity, depression, no dementia; and used a visiting nurse service. Participants using day care service two and three times or more a week had 63% or 44% lower relative hazard ratios, respectively, than participants not using the service.


CONCLUSIONS
Among community-dwelling frail older people, day care service use two or more times per week was associated with 44% to 63% lower 21-month mortality.
Kuzuya
Masafumi
M
Department of Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Japan. kuzuya@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Masuda
Yuichiro
Y
Hirakawa
Yoshihisa
Y
Iwata
Mitsunaga
M
Enoki
Hiromi
H
Hasegawa
Jun
J
Iguchi
Akihisa
A
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003631:Day Care, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007353:Insurance, Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis