Characteristics of patients receiving home care who visited the emergency department
| Characteristic | No. (%) of patients* | |
|---|---|---|
| Long stay n = 3958† | Short stay n = 2676‡ | |
| Demographic | ||
| Age, median (IQR), yr | 81 (19) | 66 (26) |
| Sex, female | 2438 (61.6) | 1381 (51.6) |
| Lives alone | 1305 (33.0) | 612 (22.9) |
| Health | ||
| Impairment in activities of daily living§ | 3536 (89.3) | 967 (36.1) |
| Cognitive impairment¶ | 2374 (60.0) | 300 (11.2) |
| Dyspnea | 1377 (34.8) | 736 (27.5) |
| Poor self-reported health | 1056 (26.7) | 575 (21.5) |
| Fall in last 90 d | 1890 (47.8) | – |
| Mood symptoms** | 1799 (45.5) | – |
| Wandering | 121 (3.1) | – |
| Aggressive behaviour†† | 427 (10.8) | – |
| Weight loss‡‡ | 379 (9.6) | – |
| No. of medications, mean ± SD | 7.39 ± 2.09 | – |
| Informal caregiver status | ||
| Caregiver distress§§ | 895 (22.6) | – |
| Informal care per day, mean ± SD, h | 2.65 ± 2.92 | – |
| Diagnosis | ||
| Cardiovascular | 2311 (58.4) | – |
| Dementia | 869 (22.0) | – |
| Neurologic | 438 (11.1) | – |
| Musculoskeletal | 2680 (67.7) | – |
| Psychiatric | 1055 (26.7) | – |
| Cancer | 588 (14.9) | – |
| Diabetes | 1271 (32.1) | – |
| COPD | 982 (24.8) | – |
Note: COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, IQR = interquartile range, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Unless stated otherwise.
↵† Data available for 3958 of 4429 patients.
↵‡ Data available for 2676 of 2836 patients.
↵§ Supervision or any assistance in bathing, dressing lower body, personal hygiene or locomotion.
↵¶ Modified independence or impairment in cognitive skills for daily decision-making.
↵** Depression Rating Scale score > 0.
↵†† Verbal abuse, physical abuse, socially inappropriate behaviour or resistance to care in last 3 days.
↵‡‡ Unintended weight loss of ≥ 5% in the last 30 days or ≥ 10% in the last 180 days.
↵§§ Caregiver expresses feelings of distress, anger or depression.