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. 2018 Oct;64(10):e453-e461.

Health and health service use of very elderly Newfoundlanders

Jillian Hurd  1 , Andrea Pike  2 , John Knight  3 , Gary Tarrant  4 , Kris Aubrey-Bassler  5 , Shabnam Asghari  6 , Marshall Godwin  7
Affiliations

Health and health service use of very elderly Newfoundlanders

Jillian Hurd et al. Can Fam Physician. 2018 Oct.

Abstract
in English, French

Objective: To develop a better understanding of the current health status and health care use of the population of very elderly Newfoundlanders to inform policy makers, decision makers, and health care providers about aspects of the health care system that might be in higher demand in the near future.

Design: Descriptive analysis using data from the Newfoundland and Labrador component of the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network database for the 2013 calendar year.

Setting: Newfoundland.

Participants: A total of 1204 Newfoundlanders aged 80 years and older.

Main outcome measures: Encounters with family physicians, medications used, hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, laboratory tests, and mortality were described and compared by sex, age, and location (rural vs urban).

Results: Compared with men, women were prescribed more medications (P = .01), were less likely to be hospitalized (P = .007), were more likely to visit an ED (P = .049), and died less frequently (P = .001). Compared with those aged 90 and older, those aged 80 to 89 made more visits to their family doctors (P = .001) and were prescribed more medications (P = .001). Predictably, those aged 90 and older died more frequently than their younger counterparts did (P = .001). Compared with those in rural communities, urban dwellers were prescribed more medications (P = .031), were hospitalized more often (P = .001), were more likely to visit the ED (P = .002), were more likely to have laboratory tests ordered (P = .001), died more frequently (P = .023), and visited their family physicians more frequently (P = .001).

Conclusion: Octogenarian women living in urban areas are the subcohort using the most resources. This might be owing to movement of the elderly to urban locations as they age.

Objectif: Mieux connaître l’état de santé des Terre-Neuviens très âgés et l’utilisation qu’ils font des soins de santé afin que les responsables des politiques, les décideurs et les soignants sachent que certains aspects du système de santé pourraient être plus en demande prochainement.

Type d’étude: Une analyse descriptive utilisant des données pour l’année civile 2013 de la base de données de la composante de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador du Réseau canadien de surveillance sentinelle en soins primaires.

Contexte: Terre-Neuve.

Participants: Un total de 1204 Terre-Neuviens de 80 ans et plus.

Principaux paramètres à l’étude: Les visites aux médecins de famille, les médicaments prescrits, les hospitalisations, les visites à l’urgence, les examens de laboratoire et les décès ont été déterminés et comparés en fonction du sexe, de l’âge et du lieu de résidence (rural ou urbain).

Résultats: Les femmes se sont vu prescrire plus de médicaments que les hommes (P = ,01), elles étaient plus susceptibles qu’eux d’être hospitalisées (P = ,007) et d’aller à l’urgence (P = ,049), mais moins de mourir (P = ,001). Les personnes âgées de 80 à 89 ans consultaient leur médecin de famille plus souvent que celles qui avaient 90 ans et plus (P = ,001), et se sont vu prescrire plus de médicaments (P = ,001). Comme on pouvait s’y attendre, les personnes de 90 ans et plus mouraient plus souvent que celles de 89 ans ou moins (P = ,001). Par rapport aux personnes qui vivaient en milieu rural, celles qui habitaient en milieu urbain se sont vu prescrire plus de médicaments (P = ,031), ont été hospitalisées plus souvent (P = ,001), étaient plus susceptibles d’aller à l’urgence (P = ,002), de se voir prescrire des médicaments (P = ,031), d’avoir à subir des examens de laboratoire (P = ,001) et de mourir (P = ,023), en plus de consulter plus souvent leurs médecins de famille.

Conclusion: Les femmes âgées de 80 à 89 ans qui vivent en milieu urbain représentent la cohorte qui utilisent le plus les services de santé. Cela pourrait être dû au fait qu’en vieillissant, les personnes déménagent souvent dans les centres urbains.

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