Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr David Sinclair, Professor Barbara HanrattyORCiD, Professor Fiona MatthewsORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Copyright: © 2024 Maharani et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. BACKGROUND: Frailty is characterised by a decline in physical, cognitive, energy, and health reserves and is linked to greater functional dependency and higher social care utilisation. However, the relationship between receiving care, or receiving insufficient care among older people with different frailty status and the risk of unplanned admission to hospital for any cause, or the risk of falls and fractures remains unclear. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This study used information from 7,656 adults aged 60 and older participating in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) waves 6-8. Care status was assessed through received care and self-reported unmet care needs, while frailty was measured using a frailty index. Competing-risk regression analysis was used (with death as a potential competing risk), adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic confounders. Around a quarter of the participants received care, of which approximately 60% received low levels of care, while the rest had high levels of care. Older people who received low and high levels of care had a higher risk of unplanned admission independent of frailty status. Unmet need for care was not significantly associated with an increased risk of unplanned admission compared to those receiving no care. Older people in receipt of care had an increased risk of hospitalisation due to falls but not fractures, compared to those who received no care after adjustment for covariates, including frailty status. CONCLUSIONS: Care receipt increases the risk of hospitalisation substantially, suggesting this is a group worthy of prevention intervention focus.
Author(s): Maharani A, Sinclair DR, Clegg A, Hanratty B, Nazroo J, Tampubolon G, Todd C, Wittenberg R, O'Neill TW, Matthews FE
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: PLoS ONE
Year: 2024
Volume: 19
Issue: 9
Online publication date: 27/09/2024
Acceptance date: 25/06/2024
Date deposited: 07/10/2024
ISSN (electronic): 1932-6203
Publisher: Public Library of Science
URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306858
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306858
Data Access Statement: Data are available in a public, open access repository. ELSA data from the main survey (SN 5050), and the COVID-19 substudy (SN 8688), are available through the UK Data Service (https://ukdataservice.ac.uk/). Details on how to access ELSA, including the conditions of use, can be found on the ELSA website (https://www.elsa-project.ac.uk/accessing-elsa-data) and the UK Data Service website.
PubMed id: 39331671
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
