Days at Home After Serious Health Events Among Community-Living Older Persons

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Health Services Research
• Patient-Centered Outcomes

Background:

• Days spent at home are a key patient-centered outcome for older adults.
• Serious health events negatively impact functional well-being in this population.
• Understanding post-event home time is crucial for geriatric care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine how days spent at home differ in the 6 months following specific serious health events in older adults.
• To quantify the impact of critical illness, major surgery, and other hospitalizations on home time.

Main Methods:

• Prospective longitudinal study of 754 community-living individuals aged 70+.
• Days at home calculated as total days minus healthcare facility days and mortality.
• Serious health events identified via Medicare data linkages.

Main Results:

• All serious health events reduced days at home.
• Critical illness and non-elective major surgery resulted in the largest absolute reductions (approx. 49-50 days).
• Elective major surgery and other hospitalizations showed smaller, yet significant, reductions (approx. 21-23 days).

Conclusions:

• Serious health events substantially decrease time spent at home for older adults.
• Findings provide expectations for patients, families, and clinicians regarding post-discharge recovery.
• Results suggest potential strategies to maximize home time after health events.