Document Detail


Reasons for hospital admissions in dementia patients in Birmingham, UK, during 2002-2007.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19005254     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: There is a lack of evidence to explain why patients with dementia are admitted to a general hospital. METHODS: Main reasons for hospitalisation were investigated in all patients admitted to a multi-ethnic general hospital during 2002-2007, by analysis of type of admission and primary diagnosis on admission. Anonymised data from the Hospital Activity Analysis Register was used to trace these patients; 505 were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD), 283 with vascular dementia (VD) and 1,773 patients were classified as unspecified dementia (UnD). Logistic regression analysis was used to compare these groups to 53,123 age-matched controls. Statistical significance of p < 0.001 was accepted. RESULTS: More dementia patients were admitted as emergency cases compared to controls (AD = 95.8%, VD = 95.4%, UnD = 96.7%, controls = 54.4%; p < 0.001 for all comparisons). The proportion of patients admitted for dementia as their primary diagnosis was small (AD = 5.9%, VD = 10.6%, UnD = 6.0%). Primary diagnoses such as syncope and collapse, bronchopneumonia, urinary tract infection and dehydration were more frequent in all dementia patients than controls. CONCLUSION: Dementia patients are frequently admitted as emergency cases, but dementia itself is often not the primary diagnosis. Earlier detection of the specific conditions mentioned above may reduce emergency hospital admissions amongst dementia patients.
Authors:
Ammar Natalwala; Rahul Potluri; Hardeep Uppal; Reinhard Heun
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2008-11-13
Journal Detail:
Title:  Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders     Volume:  26     ISSN:  1421-9824     ISO Abbreviation:  Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord     Publication Date:  2008  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-01-07     Completed Date:  2009-04-10     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9705200     Medline TA:  Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord     Country:  Switzerland    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  499-505     Citation Subset:  IM    
Copyright Information:
Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.
Affiliation:
The Medical School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Activities of Daily Living
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer Disease / epidemiology
Dementia / classification,  epidemiology*,  therapy
Dementia, Vascular / epidemiology
Emergency Medical Services / statistics & numerical data
Female
Great Britain / epidemiology
Hospitalization / statistics & numerical data*
Humans
Logistic Models
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
Patient Care
Quality of Life
Retrospective Studies

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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