Mortality among elderly receiving long-term care: a longitudinal cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate mortality, determinants of mortality, and time until death among elderly subjects receiving public long-term care.


METHODS
This study comprises 626 respondents (age: 65-98 years). Data were collected for two cohorts (2001 and 2002). Cox regression analysis was used to identify determinants of mortality. Those who died and those who did not die were compared by, for example, demographic data and activities of daily living (ADL).


RESULTS
The crude mortality rate was 9% in cohort 2001 and 14% in cohort 2002 in the first year, and 23% in cohort 2001 and 18% in cohort 2002 in the second year after decisions about care and service. Determinants of death were gender (men), severe cognitive impairment, co-morbidity, and high ADL scores. Regression analysis also showed that malignant tumors, respiratory, urinary and genito-urinary diseases were found to be significant predictors for mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
The mortality rate was quite high, several diseases were common, and the need for help with ADL was wide-ranging. Results also showed that ADL scores, together with a measure of cognitive impairment, may be useful in identifying elderly subjects at high risk of mortality.
Jakobsson
Ulf
U
Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, P.O. Box 157, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden. Ulf.Jakobsson@med.lu.se
Hallberg
Ingalill Rahm
IR
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008136:Longevity; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D009732:Nursing Care; D011632:Public Assistance; D015996:Survival Rate; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology