[Hospitalization of nursing home residents in the last phase of life: an analysis of health insurance data].

BACKGROUND

Compared to the international literature a higher proportion of German nursing home residents (NHR) die in hospital. Data on longer periods before death and on regional differences are not available.

OBJECTIVE

The frequency of hospitalizations of NHR in different periods during their last year of life were investigated. Differences between age, sex, level of nursing care, dementia and federal states were also assessed.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This study used data of a large German health insurance fund and included NHR aged 65+ years who died between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2014. We assessed the proportion of NHR with at least one hospitalization during different periods before death. In-depth analyses were conducted for 0 (which corresponds to in-hospital death), 28 and 365 days before death.

RESULTS

Of the 67,328 deceased residents (mean age: 85.3 years, 69.8% female), 29.5% died in hospital. A total of 51.5% and 74.3% were hospitalized during the last 28 and 365 days of life, respectively. These values were higher in the eastern parts of Germany. Males were hospitalized more often than women in all time periods. A higher care dependency was associated with fewer hospitalizations, especially shortly before death. There was no noticeable difference in the frequency of hospitalization between NHR with and without dementia.

CONCLUSION

Approximately half of all NHR in Germany are hospitalized during the last month of life and one third die in hospital, which is relatively high compared to the international literature. No major differences were found between NHR with and without dementia, which is also contradictory to international studies. Overall, there is a need to optimize palliative care for NHR in Germany.