Hospital survival time in dementia: A controlled study of the effect of marital status on the interval between first admission and death
✍ Scribed by D. H. Ryan
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1992
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 675 KB
- Volume
- 7
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6230
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
The influence of marital status on ‘hospital survival time’ (the interval between first admission and death) was investigated in a controlled study of hospital dementia patients. There was no evidence of a significant relationship between marital status and hospital survival time after controlling for age and sex differences. The presence of a supporting spouse did not apparently shorten hospital survival time or postpone admission. Mortality following admission was analysed during the period of the study 1971–86. The probability of death during the six months following first admission was 45% for males and 32% for female patients (patients of all marital status combined), and the respective 12‐month figures were 59% and 44%. The median hospital survival time for married male and female patients was 0.6 years and 1.8 years, which suggests that first admission to hospital occurred as a late event. It follows that additional community support to families may not be effective in further reducing the demand for hospital care during the terminal stages of dementia.