Associations between care home residents' characteristics and acute hospital admissions - a retrospective, register-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Care home residents are frail, multi-morbid, and have an increased risk of experiencing acute hospitalisations and adverse events. This study contributes to the discussion on preventing acute admissions from care homes. We aim to describe the residents' health characteristics, survival after care home admission, contacts with the secondary health care system, patterns of admissions, and factors associated with acute hospital admissions. METHOD: Data on all care home residents aged 65 + years living in Southern Jutland in 2018-2019 (n = 2601) was enriched with data from highly valid Danish national health registries to obtain information on characteristics and hospitalisations. Characteristics of care home residents were assessed by sex and age group. Factors associated with acute admissions were analysed using Cox Regression. RESULTS: Most care home residents were women (65.6%). Male residents were younger at the time of care home admission (mean 80.6 vs. 83.7 years), had a higher prevalence of morbidities, and shorter survival after care home admission. The 1-year survival was 60.8% and 72.3% for males and females, respectively. Median survival was 17.9 months and 25.9 months for males and females, respectively. The mean rate of acute hospitalisations was 0.56 per resident-year. One in four (24.4%) care home residents were discharged from the hospital within 24 h. The same proportion was readmitted within 30 days of discharge (24.6%). Admission-related mortality was 10.9% in-hospital and 13.0% 30 days post-discharge. Male sex was associated with acute hospital admissions, as was a medical history of various cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and osteoporosis. In contrast, a medical history of dementia was associated with fewer acute admissions. CONCLUSION: This study highlights some of the major characteristics of care home residents and their acute hospitalisations and contributes to the ongoing discussion on improving or preventing acute admissions from care homes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not relevant.

Does socioeconomic status make a difference? A register-based study on the extent to which cardiovascular screening in patients with inflammatory arthritis leads to recommended follow-up in general practice.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate to what extent patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) follow recommendations given in a secondary care nurse-led cardiovascular (CV) risk screening consultation to consult their general practitioner (GP) to reduce their CV risk and whether their socioeconomic status (SES) affects adherence. METHODS: Adults with IA who had participated in a secondary care screening consultation from July 2012 to July 2015, based on the EULAR recommendations, were identified. Patients were considered to have high CV risk if they had risk Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) ≥5%, according to the European SCORE model or systolic blood pressure ≥145 mmHg, total cholesterol ≥8 mmol/L, LDL cholesterol ≥5 mmol/L, HbA1c ≥42 mmol/mol or fasting glucose ≥6 mmol/L. The primary outcome was a consultation with their GP and at least one action focusing on CV risk factors within 6 weeks after the screening consultation. RESULTS: The study comprised 1265 patients, aged 18-85 years. Of these, 336/447 (75%) of the high-risk patients and 580/819 (71%) of the low-risk patients had a GP consultation. 127/336 (38%) of high-risk patients and 160/580 (28%) of low-risk patients received relevant actions related to their CV risk, for example, blood pressure home measurement or prescription for statins, antihypertensives or antidiabetics. Education ≥10 years increased the odds for non-adherence (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.0.37 to 0.92, p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: 75% of the high-risk patients consulted their GP after the secondary care CV risk screening, and 38% of these received an action relevant for their CV risk. Higher education decreased adherence.