Comparing health and health service utilization between older and younger nursing home residents

Objective: To compare health conditions and health service utilization between older (aged 65 and above) and younger (aged 64 and younger) nursing home (NH) residents.

Methods: Data came from the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey Current Patient file and were used to describe and compare the differences of health conditions and health service utilization between older and younger residents. Attributes of recent hospital admissions and emergency department visits were examined using multiple logistic regression analyses.

Results: Unsurprisingly, the majority of NH residents (n=13,228) were older adults (85.86%), followed by working-age adults (aged 18-64, 13.88%), and children (aged 17 and younger, 0.26%). Unlike older adults, working-age adults were predominately male (52.06%), divorced (24.85%), or never married (24.73%). The proportion of African American and Black was significantly high in children (43.84%) who also had a higher rate of using devices and restraints (75.43%) than did older age groups. Mental disorders were prevalent among working-age adults (20.95%) while circulatory related diseases were common among older adults (24.85%). As a group, the rate of a recent emergency department visit was 8.41% and the rate of a recent hospital admission was 6.94%, respectively. Residents who were male, Medicare beneficiaries, used devices or restraints daily, had a fall in past six months, and reported having pain in the past seven days had increased risk of recent emergency department visits or hospital admissions.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that older and younger NH residents have different health care needs which should be addressed by health service providers.