Hospitalisations and emergency department presentations by older individuals accessing long-term aged care in Australia
Date
2024
Authors
Harrison, S.L.
Lang, C.
Eshetie, T.C.
Crotty, M.
Whitehead, C.
Evans, K.
Corlis, M.
Wesselingh, S.
Caughey, G.E.
Inacio, M.C.
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Journal article
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Australian Health Review, 2024; 48(2):182-190
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Abstract
Objective: The study examined emergency department (ED) presentations, unplanned hospitalisations and potentially preventable hospitalisations in older people receiving long-term care by type of care received (i.e. permanent residential aged care or home care packages in the community), in Australia in 2019.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Registry of Senior Australians National Historical Cohort. Individuals were included if they resided in South Australia, Queensland, Victoria or New South Wales, received a home care package or permanent residential aged care in 2019 and were aged ≥65 years. The cumulative incidence of ED presentations, unplanned hospitalisations and potentially preventable hospitalisations in each of the long-term care service types were estimated during the year. Days in hospital per 1000 individuals were also calculated.
Results: The study included 203,278 individuals accessing permanent residential aged care (209,639 episodes) and 118,999 accessing home care packages in the community (127,893 episodes). A higher proportion of people accessing home care packages had an ED presentation (43.1% [95% confidence interval, 42.8–43.3], vs 37.8% [37.6–38.0]), unplanned hospitalisation (39.8% [39.6–40.1] vs 33.4% [33.2–33.6]) and potentially preventable hospitalisation (11.8% [11.6–12.0] vs 8.2% [8.1–8.4]) than people accessing permanent residential aged care. Individuals with home care packages had more days in hospital due to unplanned hospitalisations than those in residential care (7745 vs 3049 days/1000 individuals).
Conclusions: While a high proportion of older people in long-term care have ED presentations, unplanned hospitalisations and potentially preventable hospitalisations, people in the community with home care packages experience these events at a higher frequency.
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Copyright 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of AHHA.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)