Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul;21(4):478-482.
doi: 10.1111/psyg.12691. Epub 2021 Apr 5.

Factors influencing length of hospital stay in an acute psychogeriatric unit

Pierre Koskas  1 , Lauriane Bourdonnec  2 , Samuel Kohler  2 , Mouna Romdhani  2 , Olivier Drunat  2
Affiliations

Factors influencing length of hospital stay in an acute psychogeriatric unit

Pierre Koskas et al. Psychogeriatrics. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Dementia patients represent a significant volume of hospital admissions and impose a high cost on the health system. There is a significantly higher length of hospital stay (LOHS) for elderly demented patients.

Methods: This study was carried out in an acute psychogeriatric unit specialising in behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia. Socio-demographic, cognitive and nutritional variables were taken into account. We first compared the patients returning home (group 1) after hospital discharge with those transferred to the rehabilitation psychogeriatric unit (group 2). We secondarily explored the correlation of LOHS with the variables described above for the two groups.

Results: We retained 92 patients (of 375 admitted) for our study, mean age 83.9 ± 6.6, Mini-Mental State Examination 12.8 ± 9.6, initial weight 61.7 ± 13.2 kg and body mass index 24.8 ± 4.7. We noticed significant differences in cognitive status but not in nutritional variables or in socio-demographic characteristics between the two groups. Only weight in nutritional variables was significantly associated with LOHS in the acute psychogeriatric unit.

Conclusions: Our main finding underlined the key role of cognitive factors in patient discharge home. And only initial weigh seems have an influence in LOHS instead of cognitive status or socio-demographic characteristics.

Keywords: BPSD; dementia; elderly; length of hospital stay; weight.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. GBD 2015 Neurological Disorders Collaborator Group. Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders during 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet Neurol 2017; 16: 877-897.
    1. Bernardes C, Massano J, Freitas A. Hospital admissions 2000-2014: a retrospective analysis of 288 096 events in patients with dementia. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 2018; 77: 150-157.
    1. Zuliani G, Galvani M, Sioulis F et al. Discharge diagnosis and comorbidity profile in hospitalized older patients with dementia. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2012; 27: 313-320.
    1. Sampson EL, Blanchard MR, Jones L, Tookman A, King M. Dementia in the acute hospital: prospective cohort study of prevalence and mortality. Br J Psychiatry 2009; 195: 61-66.
    1. Travers C, Byrne G, Pachana N, Klein K, Gray L. Prospective observational study of dementia and delirium in the acute hospital setting. Intern Med J 2013; 43: 262-269.

LinkOut - more resources