Predictors for Nursing Home Admission and Death among Community-Dwelling People 70 Years and Older Who Receive Domiciliary Care

Original Research ArticleAim: The aim of this study was to analyze which variables predicted nursing home admission (NHA) and death. Methods: 1,001 recipients of domiciliary care were assessed three times in a 3-year period. Through bivariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models, associations between a covariate and the outcomes were analyzed. Results: Participants with dementia had a higher risk of NHA (odds ratio 3.88, 95% confidence interval 2.92-5.16) compared to participants without dementia. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory sub-syndrome psychosis, poorer functional impairment and age were associated with NHA. Female sex, age, worse medical health and functional impairment were associated with death. Conclusion: Support to the caregiver and education on how to meet and cope with behavioral disturbance, depressive mood and sub-syndrome psychosis will probably enable the family to better adapt to late life changes.We are grateful to the participating families and staff in the domiciliary care services for their help in data collection. The project was made possible by funding from the Norwegian Directorate of Health and by grant 187980 from the Research Council of Norway. Coordinator Lisbeth D. Høgset and statistician Jurate Salyte-Benth also contributed assistance and counseling that improved the study and the content of this paper.publishedVersio