Dementia ups hospital rates
November 29, 2012
CITIZENS of New South Wales
who suffer from dementia are more
likely to end up in hospital than
those who do not suffer the
debilitating disease.
The finding comes out of the
Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare’s latest report which examined
the characteristics of the 252,700
people aged 50 years and over who
had at least one night in a NSW
public hospital in 2006-07.
According to the findings, 8% of
these patients (20,800 people) had
dementia, whilst around 26% of
people with dementia aged 50 and
over in NSW were found to have
had at least one overnight stay in
hospital that ended in 2006-07.
This finding compares with 12%
of people aged 50 and over without
dementia.
The report also noted that
hospital patients with dementia
were more likely to have had more
than one multiple-day hospital stay
in a 12-month period than patients
without dementia (62% and 43%
respectively), and that these stays
were also generally longer than for
patients without dementia (average
of 18 days compared to 9 days).
Interestingly, admission to
hospital due to non-dementia
mental and behavioural disorders
or conditions of the nervous
system was more common among
people with dementia than those
without (14% compared with 5%),
whilst people with dementia were
also more likely to be admitted
because of injury or poisoning (14%
compared with 11%.
“A lower proportion of patients
with dementia than those without
dementia returned to living in the
community on discharge -59%
compared with 88%,” said AIHW
spokesperson Brent Diverty.
To access the report CLICK HERE.
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