Queen's University Belfast

Academic Institute

E036

Due to their age and the disease itself, people with dementia are almost 50% more likely to have an acute hospital admission (Motzek, Werblow, Tesch, Marquardt, & Schmitt, 2018). In the vast majority of cases, the cause of admission is not dementia but rather common age-related diseases, such as urinary tract infections (Bernardes, Massano, & Freitas, 2018). They also have an 18% higher rate of readmission following discharge (Motzek et al, 2018; Pickens, Naik, Catic & Kunik, 2017). As a result, approximately one quarter of hospital beds are occupied by people with dementia (Alzheimer’s Society, 2009). However, the hospital environment is often distressing for people with dementia (White et al, 2017) and for 20% of caregivers who also experience significant emotional stress during hospitalisation of the person they are caring for (Leggett, Polenick, Maust & Kales, 2018). People with dementia have been shown to have an increased mortality rate in hospital and for six months after discharge compared to age-matched controls (Alzheimer’s Society & Marie Curie, 2015). Therefore, a reduced number of hospitalisations may result in an increase in their life expectancy and lower mortality rates. Additionally, less hospitalizations for people with dementia may relieve some of the financial strain currently being experienced by the National Health Service. Therefore, this study aims to explore the rates of hospitalisations for people with dementia in Northern Ireland and to assess the effect of hospitalisations on mortality rates.

The increasingly common nature of dementia and its complex management is a significant strain on healthcare services in Northern Ireland both financially and on the frontline. There is a distinct lack of epidemiological information about dementia in Northern Ireland. Much of the current knowledge regarding hospitalisation rates and outcomes is anecdotal or inferred from research conducted in other populations. Being able to deliver hospitalisation rates of people with dementia in Northern Ireland will for the first time show the true extent of this growing healthcare problem locally. Crucially, it will also provide the necessary information to inform local policy and current clinical practice to reflect the specific situation in Northern Ireland. Such implications to public policy may include working to estimate care costs of dementia in hospitals, identifying modifiable factors leading to hospital admission and addressing these factors with an aim to reduce unnecessary expenditure. This study is part of a larger project on Dementia Analytics funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, the Executive Office, the Department of Health and Queen’s University Belfast, and aims to improve our understanding of dementia in Northern Ireland.

11/12/2018

TRE