1. Changes in hospitalisation rates in older people before and after moving to a retirement village.
- Author
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Bloomfield K, Wu Z, Boyd M, Broad JB, Hikaka J, Peri K, Bramley D, Tatton A, Calvert C, Higgins AM, and Connolly MJ
- Subjects
- Humans, Female, Aged, Male, Retrospective Studies, New Zealand epidemiology, Retirement, Hospitalization
- Abstract
Objectives: An increasing proportion of older people live in Retirement Villages ('villages'). This population cites support for health-care issues as one reason for relocation to villages. Here, we examine whether relocation to villages is associated with a decline in hospitalisations., Methods: Retrospective, before-and-after observational study., Setting: Retirement villages, Auckland, New Zealand., Participants: 466 cognitively intact village residents (336 [72%] female); mean (SD) age at moving to village was 73.9 (7.7) years. Segmented linear regression analysis of an interrupted time-series design was used., Main Outcome Measures: all hospitalisations for 18 months pre- and postrelocation to village., Secondary Outcome: acute hospitalisations during the same time periods., Results: The average hospitalisation rate (per 100 person-years) was 44.9 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 36.3-55.6) 18-10 months before village relocation, 58.9 (95% CI = 48.3-72.0) 9-1 months before moving, 47.9 (95% CI = 38.8-59.1) 1-9 months after moving and 62.4 (95% CI = 51.2-76.0) 10-18 months after moving. Monthly average hospitalisation rate (per 100 person-years) increased before relocation to village by an average of 1.2 (95% CI = 0.01-1.57, p = .04) per month from 18 to 1 month before moving, and there was a change in the level of the monthly average hospitalisation rate immediately after relocation (mean difference [MD] = -18.4 per 100 person-years, 95% CI = -32.8 to -4.1, p = .02). The trend change after village relocation did not differ significantly from that before moving., Conclusions: Although we cannot reliably claim causality, relocation to a retirement village is, for older people, associated with a significant but non-sustained reduction in hospitalisation., (© 2023 The Authors. Australasian Journal on Ageing published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AJA Inc’.)
- Published
- 2023
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