Home, please: A conjoint analysis of patient preferences after a bad hip fracture.

AIM

An Australian study of older, community-dwelling women found that 80% would rather be dead than experience loss of independence and nursing home admission after a bad hip fracture. We re-examined this issue using a conjoint analysis approach.

METHODS

We asked older hospital patients with a history of falls, fracture or osteoporosis to imagine they had a hip fracture resulting in significant residual disability. Subjects were asked to rank in order of preference an orthogonal array of nine out of 36 potential outcome scenarios reporting risk of falls, life expectancy, discharge home with support or to a nursing home and family agreement or disagreement with discharge location.

RESULTS

Of 192 patients satisfying inclusion criteria, 183 agreed to participate and 97 completed the study. Those who failed to complete the study were older and had lower Mini-Mental State Examination scores than those who completed the study. For the group as a whole, averaged importance scores were: discharge residence 31.3%, length of life 27%, fall risk 26.4% and family preference 15.5%. On average, subjects would be willing to sacrifice approximately 9 months of life in order to return home rather than go to a nursing home.

CONCLUSIONS

In the present study, older people at high risk for fracture judged that after a bad hip fracture their main priority would be to remain at home.