Preventable adverse events and related outcomes among people with dementia in hospital settings: scoping review

To explore the hospital-related adverse events endured by people with dementia and assess their association with negative outcomes related to hospital care.

A scoping review was undertaken in October 2023. Primary studies published in peer-reviewed journals in English, Spanish, or Portuguese were included. The databases PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Scopus were searched.

Of the 1976 retrieved studies, 16 were included. Adverse events were more frequent among people with dementia compared to people without dementia. In studies with non-surgical and surgical patients, the most frequently reported were falls, delirium, and infections, while in studies exclusively conducted with surgical patients, these were postoperative delirium, infections, and other complications. The link between adverse events and negative outcomes was explored in only three studies and indicated that those who experienced adverse events had longer hospital stays, higher risk of mortality, and higher readmission rates within 90 days.

Although we were unable to establish a direct link between adverse events and hospital outcomes due to the exploratory nature of this review, the findings suggest that mitigating such events could help improve outcomes among hospitalized people with dementia. Hospital safety measures appear to be insufficient to protect this group.