Living alone and unplanned hospitalizations among older adults: a population-based longitudinal study.
The association of living alone with hospitalization among the general elderly population has been rarely investigated, and the influence of common disorders on this association remains unknown.



We used data on participants in the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen ( n = 3130). Risk and number of unplanned hospitalizations and length of hospital stays were studied over a period of 2 years. We used Cox proportional hazard models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) of incident hospitalization and zero-inflated negative binomial regression models adjusted for potential confounders to estimate incident rate ratios (IRR) of the number of hospitalizations and total length of stay associated with living alone.



A total of 1768 participants (56.5%) lived alone. Five hundred and sixty-one (31.7%) of those who lived alone had at least one unplanned hospitalization. In the multivariate analyses, living alone was significantly associated with the risk of unplanned hospitalization (HR = 1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.45) and the number of hospitalizations (IRR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.04-1.76) but not with the length of hospital stays. In stratified analyses, the association between living alone and unplanned hospitalizations remained statistically significant only among men (HR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.17-1.99).



Living alone is associated with higher risks of unplanned hospitalization in elderly, especially for men.
Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Clément
C
Pimouguet
Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Debora
D
Rizzuto
Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.|Stockholm Gerontology Research Center, Stockholm, Sweden.
Marten
M
Lagergren
Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.|Stockholm Gerontology Research Center, Stockholm, Sweden.
Laura
L
Fratiglioni
Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Weili
W
Xu
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden