Community-based palliative care is associated with reduced emergency department use by people with dementia in their last year of life: A retrospective cohort study

Objective: To describe patterns in the use of hospital emergency departments in the last year of life by people who died with dementia and whether this was modified by use of community-based palliative care. Design: Retrospective population-based cohort study of people in their last year of life. T...

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Main Authors: Rosenwax, Lorna, Spilsbury, Katrina, Arendts, G., McNamara, Beverley, Semmens, James
Format: Journal Article
Published: Sage Science Press (UK) 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/35065
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author Rosenwax, Lorna
Spilsbury, Katrina
Arendts, G.
McNamara, Beverley
Semmens, James
author_facet Rosenwax, Lorna
Spilsbury, Katrina
Arendts, G.
McNamara, Beverley
Semmens, James
author_sort Rosenwax, Lorna
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Objective: To describe patterns in the use of hospital emergency departments in the last year of life by people who died with dementia and whether this was modified by use of community-based palliative care. Design: Retrospective population-based cohort study of people in their last year of life. Time-to-event analyses were performed using cumulative hazard functions and flexible parametric proportional hazards regression models. Setting/participants: All people living in Western Australia who died with dementia in the 2-year period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2010 (dementia cohort; N = 5261). A comparative cohort of decedents without dementia who died from other conditions amenable to palliative care (N = 2685). Results: More than 70% of both the dementia and comparative cohorts attended hospital emergency departments in the last year of life. Only 6% of the dementia cohort used community-based palliative care compared to 26% of the comparative cohort. Decedents with dementia who were not receiving community-based palliative care attended hospital emergency departments more frequently than people receiving community-based palliative care. The magnitude of the increased rate of emergency department visits varied over the last year of life from 1.4 (95% confidence interval: 1.1–1.9) times more often in the first 3 months of follow-up to 6.7 (95% confidence interval: 4.7–9.6) times more frequently in the weeks immediately preceding death. Conclusions: Community-based palliative care of people who die with or of dementia is relatively infrequent but associated with significant reductions in hospital emergency department use in the last year of life.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-350652017-09-13T15:32:25Z Community-based palliative care is associated with reduced emergency department use by people with dementia in their last year of life: A retrospective cohort study Rosenwax, Lorna Spilsbury, Katrina Arendts, G. McNamara, Beverley Semmens, James emergency service follow-up studies dementia Palliative care hospital Objective: To describe patterns in the use of hospital emergency departments in the last year of life by people who died with dementia and whether this was modified by use of community-based palliative care. Design: Retrospective population-based cohort study of people in their last year of life. Time-to-event analyses were performed using cumulative hazard functions and flexible parametric proportional hazards regression models. Setting/participants: All people living in Western Australia who died with dementia in the 2-year period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2010 (dementia cohort; N = 5261). A comparative cohort of decedents without dementia who died from other conditions amenable to palliative care (N = 2685). Results: More than 70% of both the dementia and comparative cohorts attended hospital emergency departments in the last year of life. Only 6% of the dementia cohort used community-based palliative care compared to 26% of the comparative cohort. Decedents with dementia who were not receiving community-based palliative care attended hospital emergency departments more frequently than people receiving community-based palliative care. The magnitude of the increased rate of emergency department visits varied over the last year of life from 1.4 (95% confidence interval: 1.1–1.9) times more often in the first 3 months of follow-up to 6.7 (95% confidence interval: 4.7–9.6) times more frequently in the weeks immediately preceding death. Conclusions: Community-based palliative care of people who die with or of dementia is relatively infrequent but associated with significant reductions in hospital emergency department use in the last year of life. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/35065 10.1177/0269216315576309 Sage Science Press (UK) fulltext
spellingShingle emergency service
follow-up studies
dementia
Palliative care
hospital
Rosenwax, Lorna
Spilsbury, Katrina
Arendts, G.
McNamara, Beverley
Semmens, James
Community-based palliative care is associated with reduced emergency department use by people with dementia in their last year of life: A retrospective cohort study
title Community-based palliative care is associated with reduced emergency department use by people with dementia in their last year of life: A retrospective cohort study
title_full Community-based palliative care is associated with reduced emergency department use by people with dementia in their last year of life: A retrospective cohort study
title_fullStr Community-based palliative care is associated with reduced emergency department use by people with dementia in their last year of life: A retrospective cohort study
title_full_unstemmed Community-based palliative care is associated with reduced emergency department use by people with dementia in their last year of life: A retrospective cohort study
title_short Community-based palliative care is associated with reduced emergency department use by people with dementia in their last year of life: A retrospective cohort study
title_sort community-based palliative care is associated with reduced emergency department use by people with dementia in their last year of life: a retrospective cohort study
topic emergency service
follow-up studies
dementia
Palliative care
hospital
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/35065