Risk factors associated with residential aged care, respite and transitional aged care admission for older people following an injury-related hospitalisation

Abstract

Objectives: To identify factors associated with admission to residential aged care (RAC), respite RAC and transitional care (TC) for older individuals following an injury hospitalisation.

Method: A retrospective analysis was conducted of individuals aged ≥65 years who had an injury hospitalisation and who were admitted to RAC during 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2013 in New South Wales, Australia. Multinominal logistic regression was used to examine the factors associated with admissions to aged care services compared to returning to the community.

Results: Of 191,301 injury hospitalisations, 41,085 (21.5%) individuals either returned or were new admissions to long-term or respite RAC and 3,218 individuals were admitted to TC. Older individuals newly admitted to long-term RAC were four times more likely (OR: 4.36; 95%CI 4.15-4.57), those admitted to respite RAC were twice as likely (OR: 2.37; 95%CI 2.21-2.54) and people admitted to TC were less likely (OR: 0.60; 95%CI 0.53-0.68) to have dementia compared to individuals who returned to the community. Overall, individuals who were admitted to long-term or respite RAC had a higher likelihood of experiencing limitations associated with their physical, cognitive or social abilities, with individuals admitted to TC having a higher likelihood of issues with hygiene and mobility, compared to individuals returning to the community.

Conclusion: Understanding the profile and predictive risk factors for injured older individuals using RAC (long-term, respite or TC services) can inform current and future aged care service resource use needs and can be used to understand factors associated with service use.

Keywords: Injury; Older individuals; Residential aged care; Respite care; Transitional care.