Chronic disease and elder mistreatment: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE

This meta-analysis investigated the relationships between chronic diseases and different forms of elder mistreatment (physical, emotional, sexual, financial, neglect, or overall abuse).

METHOD

Twelve different chronic disease risk markers linked to elder mistreatment were gathered from 48 studies (yielding 178 effect sizes (ESs) and a combined sample size of n = 390,785), then organized in to four broad chronic disease categories: endocrine disease, heart disease, neurological disease, and other chronic diseases. Data were analyzed with Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Software using a random effects approach.

RESULTS

Neurological disease (odds ratio [OR] = 1.51), endocrine disease (OR = 1.38), heart disease (OR = 1.17), and other chronic diseases (OR = 1.26) were all significantly associated with elder mistreatments. Neurological disease (OR = 1.51) was found to have a significantly stronger association with elder mistreatment when compared to the heart disease category (OR = 1.17) and the other chronic disease category (OR = 1.26). When specifically investigating emotional abuse, there was a significantly stronger link with neurological disease (OR = 1.48) compared to other chronic diseases (OR = 1.21).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides the first meta-analytic benchmarks for understanding the links between chronic disease risk markers and different forms of elder mistreatment.