TY - JOUR
T1 - Identifying patterns of potentially preventable hospitalisations in people living with dementia
AU - Engel, Lidia
AU - Hwang, Kerry
AU - Panayiotou, Anita
AU - Watts, Jennifer J.
AU - Mihalopoulos, Cathrine
AU - Temple, Jeromey
AU - Batchelor, Frances
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the State Trustees Australia Foundation. The funding body had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the Victorian Department of Health as the source of Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset for this study, and the Centre for Victorian Data Linkage (Victorian Department of Health) for the provision of data linkage.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Background: Older Australians make up 46% of all potentially preventable hospitalisations (PPHs) and people living with dementia are at significantly greater risk. While policy reforms aim to reduce PPHs, there is currently little evidence available on what drives this, especially for people living with dementia. This study examines patterns of PPHs in people living with dementia to inform service delivery and the development of evidence-based interventions. Methods: We used the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset from Victoria, Australia, to extract data for people aged 50 and over with a diagnosis of dementia between 2015 and 2016. Potentially avoidable admissions, known as ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), were identified. The chi-square test was used to detect differences between admissions for ACSCs and non-ACSCs by demographic, geographical, and administrative factors. Predictors of ACSCs admissions were analysed using univariate and multiple logistic regression. Results: Of the 8156 hospital records, there were 3884 (48%) ACSCs admissions, of which admissions for urinary tract infections accounted for 31%, followed by diabetes complications (21%). Mean bed-days were 8.26 for non-ACSCs compared with 9.74 for ACSCs (p ≤ 0.001). There were no differences between admissions for ACSCs and non-ACSCs by sex, marital status, region (rural vs metro), and admission source (private accommodation vs residential facility). Culture and language predicted ASCS admission rates in the univariate regression analyses, with ACSC admission rates increasing by 20 and 29% if English was not the preferred language or if an interpreter was required, respectively. Results from the multiple regression analysis confirmed that language was a significant predictor of ACSC admission rates. Conclusions: Improved primary health care may help to reduce the most common causes of PPHs for people living with dementia, particularly for those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
AB - Background: Older Australians make up 46% of all potentially preventable hospitalisations (PPHs) and people living with dementia are at significantly greater risk. While policy reforms aim to reduce PPHs, there is currently little evidence available on what drives this, especially for people living with dementia. This study examines patterns of PPHs in people living with dementia to inform service delivery and the development of evidence-based interventions. Methods: We used the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset from Victoria, Australia, to extract data for people aged 50 and over with a diagnosis of dementia between 2015 and 2016. Potentially avoidable admissions, known as ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), were identified. The chi-square test was used to detect differences between admissions for ACSCs and non-ACSCs by demographic, geographical, and administrative factors. Predictors of ACSCs admissions were analysed using univariate and multiple logistic regression. Results: Of the 8156 hospital records, there were 3884 (48%) ACSCs admissions, of which admissions for urinary tract infections accounted for 31%, followed by diabetes complications (21%). Mean bed-days were 8.26 for non-ACSCs compared with 9.74 for ACSCs (p ≤ 0.001). There were no differences between admissions for ACSCs and non-ACSCs by sex, marital status, region (rural vs metro), and admission source (private accommodation vs residential facility). Culture and language predicted ASCS admission rates in the univariate regression analyses, with ACSC admission rates increasing by 20 and 29% if English was not the preferred language or if an interpreter was required, respectively. Results from the multiple regression analysis confirmed that language was a significant predictor of ACSC admission rates. Conclusions: Improved primary health care may help to reduce the most common causes of PPHs for people living with dementia, particularly for those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
KW - Ambulatory care sensitive conditions
KW - Australia
KW - Dementia
KW - Hospitalization
KW - Primary health care
KW - Quality of health care
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132313595&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12913-022-08195-9
DO - 10.1186/s12913-022-08195-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 35725546
AN - SCOPUS:85132313595
SN - 1472-6963
VL - 22
JO - BMC Health Services Research
JF - BMC Health Services Research
IS - 1
M1 - 794
ER -