The association between living alone and health care utilisation in older adults: a retrospective cohort study of electronic health records from a London general practice.

BACKGROUND: In 2016, one in three older people in the UK were living alone. These patients often have complex health needs and require additional clinical and non-clinical support. This study aimed to analyse the association between living alone and health care utilisation in older patients. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 1447 patients over the age of 64, living in 1275 households who were registered at a large general practice in South East London. The utilisation of four different types of health care provision were examined in order to explore the impact of older patients living alone on health care utilisation. RESULTS: After adjusting for patient demographics and clinical characteristics, living alone was significantly associated with a higher probability of utilising emergency department and general practitioner services, with odds ratios of 1.50 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.16 to 1.93) and 1.40 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.88) respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Living alone has an impact on health care service utilisation for older patients. We show that general practice data can be used to identify older patients who are living alone, and general practitioners are in a unique position to identify those who could benefit from additional clinical and non-clinical support. Further research is needed to understand the mechanism driving higher utilisation for those patients who live alone.

Multiple long-term conditions within households and use of health and social care: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The daily management of long-term conditions falls primarily on individuals and informal carers, but the impact of household context on health and social care activity among people with multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs) is understudied. AIM: To test whether co-residence with a person with MLTCs (compared with a co-resident without MLTCs) is associated with utilisation and cost of primary, community, secondary health care, and formal social care. DESIGN & SETTING: Linked data from health providers and local government in Barking and Dagenham for a retrospective cohort of people aged ≥50 years in two-person households in 2016-2018. METHOD: Two-part regression models were applied to estimate annualised use and cost of hospital, primary, community, mental health, and social care by MLTC status of individuals and co-residents, adjusted for age, sex, and deprivation. Applicability at the national level was tested using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). RESULTS: Forty-eight per cent of people with MLTCs in two-person households were co-resident with another person with MLTCs. They were 1.14 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.00 to 1.30) times as likely to have community care activity and 1.24 (95% CI = 0.99 to 1.54) times as likely to have mental health care activity compared with those co-resident with a healthy person. They had more primary care visits (8.5 [95% CI = 8.2 to 8.8] versus 7.9 [95% CI = 7.7 to 8.2]) and higher primary care costs. Outpatient care and elective admissions did not differ. Findings in national data were similar. CONCLUSION: Care utilisation for people with MLTCs varies by household context. There may be potential for connecting health and community service input across household members.

Associations between parental mental health and other family factors and healthcare utilisation among children and young people: a retrospective, cross-sectional study of linked healthcare data.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the degree to which parental diagnosis of depression or other long-term conditions, parental health-seeking behaviours and household factors were associated with a healthcare utilisation among children and young people (CYP) (0-15 years). DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional study of electronic health records, from 25 252 patients registered at a large, London-based primary care provider. The associations between children's healthcare utilisation and the characteristics of the child, their parents/carers and their household structure were examined using multivariable regression. RESULTS: Controlling for parental utilisation, parental depression (vs not) was significantly associated with increased healthcare utilisation for CYP. Odds ratios for CYP with siblings=1.41 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.80) for emergency department (ED) attendances, 1.67 (95% CI 1.32 to 2.11) for outpatient appointments, 1.47 (95% CI 1.07 to 2.03) for inpatient admission, and rate rato=1.28 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.78) for general practitioner (GP) consultations.After adjusting for child and parental characteristics, parental general practice attendance (+1 from mean) was predictive of increased CYP general practice attendance, rate ratio 1.07 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.08) for CYP with siblings. Parental ED attendance also increased the risk of CYP ED attendance, with OR 1.27 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.44) for CYP with siblings. CONCLUSIONS: Parental depression is associated with increased utilisation of ED, outpatient and inpatient services by CYP, as well as with increased GP consultations among adolescents. Our results demonstrate that healthcare utilisation by CYP is associated with the health-seeking behaviour of adults in their household.