The role of intervening hospital admissions on trajectories of disability in the last year of life: prospective cohort study of older people.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To evaluate the role of intervening hospital admissions on trajectories of disability in the last year of life.

Design

Prospective cohort study.

Setting

Greater New Haven, Connecticut, United States, from March 1998 to June 2013.

Participants

552 decedents from a cohort of 754 community living people, aged 70 years or older, who were initially non-disabled in four essential activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, walking, and transferring.

Main outcome measure

Occurrence of admissions to hospital and severity of disability (range 0-4), ascertained during monthly interviews for more than 15 years.

Results

In the last year of life, six distinct trajectories of disability were identified, from least disabled to most disabled: 95 part

SUBMITTER: Gill TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4443433 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature