Predictors of mortality in a disabled and elderly population receiving domiciliarly based services

Predictors of mortality were evaluated after a period of 26 months for 218 persons receiving domiciliary nursing and/or domiciliary assistance. They were living in Posio, a rural commune in northern Finland. Twenty-six (12%) persons died during the follow-up of 26 months. The prospects for survival were slightly poorer among the persons with a poor physical mobility and among those living together with their spouse, and slightly better for those persons who lived alone as compared with persons living with another person or persons. The predictions of mortality among long-term home-care patients seemed not to be the same as those of the institutionalized aged population. The findings warrant further research in this respect.