Increasing Rates of Preventable Hospitalizations Among Adults With Dementia

A study in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society calls for better strategies to protect the health of older adults with dementia, to avoid the need for hospitalized care, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers reviewed nationally representative de-hospitalization data from 2012 to 2016 relating to 1.8 million hospitalizations of older U.S. adults with dementia. Forty percent of hospitalizations of older adults with dementia were for potentially preventable ailments like pneumonia and heart failure, that can possibly be avoided with access to high-quality outpatient care. Although the national incidence of all hospitalizations for individuals with dementia fell between 2012 and 2016, hospitalizations for potentially preventable conditions rose. During that period, hospitalizations for any cause declined from 1.87 million to 1.85 million annually, while potentially preventable hospitalizations increased from 0.75 million to 0.87 million annually — due to more hospitalizations for sepsis, injuries, and dehydration of older adults with dementia living in the community. Among those with dementia who were hospitalized for potentially preventable conditions, inpatient deaths declined from 6.4 percent in 2012 to 6.1 percent in 2016, inflation-adjusted median costs climbed from $7,319 to $7,543, and total yearly costs increased from $7.4 billion to $9.3 billion. "These preventable hospitalizations have important effects that stretch beyond the hospital stay, both in terms of outcomes for the patients — as the majority are discharged to skilled nursing communities rather than returning home — and in terms of costs to the health system," said Harvard Medical School's Timothy Anderson.