Rising Number of Older Parkinson’s Patients Need LTC After Hospitalization
Although treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD) is significantly extending the lives of patients, the number of these patients who need long-term skilled nursing care upon hospital discharge is increasing at an alarming rate, according to a study from the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease (2016;6[4]:709-716).
Lead investigator Olive Lennon, PhD, School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin (Ireland), and colleagues, examined hospital discharges of 12,437 PD patients over age 65, as well as 1223 discharges of PD patients under age 65, between 2009 and 2012 to determine why they were admitted and what setting they were discharged to.
The most common reasons for admission for PD patients of all ages were acute lower respiratory infection, urinary system disorders, pneumonia (organism unspecified), and pneumonitis due to solids and liquids (aspiration pneumonia). Over the time of the study, the number of PD patients requiring long-term nursing home care more than doubled in all age categories. Indeed, Twenty-seven percent of patients over age 65 were discharged to a nursing home following their hospital stay compared with 12% that were admitted from a skilled nursing facility.
Many of the reasons for hospital admissions can be targeted for intervention initiatives to prevent or treat these conditions before a hospital admission is required, thus reducing stress on emergency departments, lengthy in-patient stays.
“Currently care delivered is disjointed and it is this fragmented approach that allows individuals to become seriously ill and require hospital admission,” said researchers. “Integrated care pathways for community-dwelling adults with chronic neurological diseases, not just [PD], should form the bedrock for health and wellness in this population going forward.”—Amanda Del Signore
