[Determinants of nursing home admission of elderly patients and chances for prevention. A longitudinal study in Germany].

The aim of the following longitudinal study of institutionalization was 1) to ascertain the risk of institutionalization of an elderly person, and 2) to examine the factors related to institutionalization in old age. The probability of an old person to spend some portion of his life in any home for the aged is much higher than the 5% (Western Germany) or the 8% (Eastern Germany) which can be observed at any point in time. In the individual life-course up to 43% of men and up to 70% of women become institutionalized. The factors related to institutionalization are age, sickness, housing conditions, and marital status, whereas the gender difference is explained entirely by other factors. Furthermore, the probability to become institutionalized in old age is also a function of mortality.