[People with dementia in acute hospitals. Literature review of prevalence and reasons for hospital admission]

Abstract

People with dementia who are hospitalized depend on hospital care that is tailored to their particular needs. However, the current structural conditions and standardized care plans are often opposed to the needs for familiarity and orientation that people with dementia have. For the development of dementia-specific care concepts, it is important to know the proportion of persons with dementia who are hospitalized as well as the diagnosis that leads to hospital admission. The results of the literature review show prevalence estimates of 3.4-43.3%. The probability or risk of hospitalization for persons with dementia is between 1.4-3.6 times greater than it is for non-dementia persons. In addition, the reasons for admission are different. People with dementia are more frequently hospitalized due to infectious diseases, fractures, or nutritional disorders than non-dementia persons. Based on these results, one can hypothesize that there is a need for cross-sectoral care approaches, since these indicate the necessity for further research in order to establish a reliable database.