Prediction of general hospital admission in people with dementia: cohort study.

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Prediction of general hospital admission in people with dementia: cohort study.

Br J Psychiatry. 2015 Feb;206(2):153-9

Authors: Russ TC, Parra MA, Lim AE, Law E, Connelly PJ, Starr JM

Abstract
BACKGROUND: People with dementia are extremely vulnerable in hospital and unscheduled admissions should be avoided if possible.
AIMS: To identify any predictors of general hospital admission in people with dementia in a well-characterised national prospective cohort study.
METHOD: A cohort of 730 persons with dementia was drawn from the Scottish Dementia Research Interest Register (47.8% female; mean age 76.3 years, s.d. = 8.2, range 50-94), with a mean follow-up period of 1.2 years.
RESULTS: In the age- and gender-adjusted multivariable model (n = 681; 251 admitted), Neuropsychiatric Inventory score (hazard ratio per s.d. disadvantage 1.21, 95% CI 1.08-1.36) was identified as an independent predictor of admission to hospital.
CONCLUSIONS: Neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia, measured using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, predict non-psychiatric hospital admission of people with dementia. Further studies are merited to test whether interventions to reduce such symptoms might reduce unscheduled admissions to acute hospitals.

PMID: 25395686 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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