Socio‐economic predictors of time to care home admission in people living with dementia in Wales: A routine data linkage study

Abstract

Objectives Limited research has shown that people with dementia (PwD) from lower socio‐economic backgrounds can face difficulties in accessing the right care at the right time. This study examined whether socio‐economic status (SES) and rural versus urban living location are associated with the time between diagnosis and care home admission in PwD living in Wales, UK. Methods/Design This study linked routine health data and an e‐cohort of PwD who have been admitted into a care home between 2000 and 2018 living in Wales. Survival analysis explored the effects of SES, living location, living situation, and frailty on the time between diagnosis and care home admission. Results In 34,514 PwD, the average time between diagnosis and care home admission was 1.5 (±1.4) years. Cox regression analysis showed that increased age, living alone, frailty, and living in less disadvantaged neighbourhoods were associated with faster rate to care home admission. Living in rural regions predicted a slower rate until care home admission. Conclusions This is one of the first studies to show a link between socio‐economic factors on time to care home admission in dementia. Future research needs to address variations in care needs between PwD from different socio‐economic and geographical backgrounds.

A review on the COVID-19-related psychological impact on older adults: vulnerable or not?

“…1 ). Among the included studies, 10 were cross-sectional online surveys during the acute phase of the pandemic [ 33 – 42 ], five studies compared data collected prior with the data collected during the pandemic [ 43 – 47 ], two studies reported baseline data from ongoing longitudinal studies [ 48 , 49 ] and one study reported longitudinal data [ 50 ] (Table 1 ).

Fig.

…”

“…Lastly, two studies reported baseline data from ongoing longitudinal studies in the United Kingdom. The first one, an ongoing online and telephone survey, reported that only a few older adults showed clinically significant depressive and anxiety symptoms (5%), assessed by PHQ-9 and GAD-7, respectively [ 48 ]. The second was the baseline survey of the ongoing CHARIOT COVID-19 Rapid Response Study (CCRR), conducted within six weeks of lockdown in London.…”

“…An online survey conducted during the lockdown in Austria revealed that adults over the age of 65 showed higher levels of quality of life, assessed by the WHO Quality of life-BREF (WHO-QOL BREF; M = 75.08, SD = 15.82), as well as better wellbeing, assessed by the WHO-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5; M = 17.18, SD = 4.97), compared with younger participants of different age groups; adults aged 25–34 and 18–24 years showed the lowest levels of quality of life and well-being [25–34 years ( M WHO-QOLBREF = 67.35, SD = 19.12; M WHO-5 = 14.20, SD = 5.26); 18–24 years (M WHO-QOLBREF = 65.72, SD = 20.32; M WHO-5 = 13.63, SD = 4.91)] [ 35 ]. Similarly, adults over the age of 65 in the United Kingdom displayed relative high levels of wellbeing, assessed by the Short Warwick‐Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS) [ 48 ].…”

“…According to baseline data from ongoing longitudinal studies, the prevalence of clinically significant depression and anxiety was low (5%) [ 48 ]. Furthermore, there was a 19% lower risk of reporting depressive symptoms and a 22% lower risk of reporting anxiety symptoms with every five-year increase in age [ 49 ].…”

Excess mortality for care home residents during the first 23 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in England: a national cohort study

“…Wider community testing was negligible in the early parts of our analysis period [25] and likely differed by local authority capacity which would bias results if included. Furthermore, staff, healthcare professionals and any other individuals entering the care homes are not necessarily from or have only interacted with the immediate local areas [26], so fully capturing this would require location data for multiple individuals over time. Good-quality data on local policy responses was also unavailable.…”