Avoidable Hospitalizations in Frail Older Adults: The Role of Sociodemographic, Clinical, and Care-Related Factors

Objectives

This study aims to investigate the relationship between frailty and avoidable hospitalization risk, and the moderating role of sociodemographic, clinical, and care-related factors.

Design

Longitudinal population-based cohort study.

Setting and Participants

A total of 3168 community-dwelling individuals, aged ≥60 years, from the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K).

Methods

We operationalized physical frailty using baseline SNAC-K data (2001-2004). In line with the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare and Association of Local Authorities and Regions, avoidable hospitalizations were considered those that could have been prevented through proper and timely outpatient care and identified through the Swedish National Patient Register. Participants were followed from baseline until first avoidable hospitalization, death, drop out, institutionalization, or maximum 12 (median 7.6) years. The association between frailty and avoidable hospitalization was explored through flexible parametric survival models, with stratified analyses to investigate age, gender, education, civil status, multimorbidity, cognitive status, and informal and formal care as potential modifiers.

Results

The adjusted 12-year cumulative incidence of avoidable hospitalization was significantly higher for frail persons (cumulative incidence 33.2%, 95% CI 28.9%-38.1%) than for prefrail (cumulative incidence 26.6%, 95% CI 24.5%-29.0%) and nonfrail (cumulative incidence 25.2%, 95% CI 22.5%-28.3%) individuals. In addition, prefrailty [hazard ratio (HR) 1.21, 95% CI 1.00-1.45] and frailty (HR 1.91, 95% CI 1.47-2.50) were associated with increased avoidable hospitalization hazards. Furthermore, the association between frailty and avoidable hospitalization was stronger in older adults aged <78 years (HR 3.12, 95% CI 1.99-4.91) and those with relatively fewer chronic diseases (HR 3.88, 95% CI 1.95-7.72), whereas provision of formal social care (HR 1.15, 95% CI 0.77-1.72) seemed to act as a buffer.

Conclusions and Implications

Our results indicate that older community-dwelling adults with prefrailty and frailty are at increased risk of experiencing avoidable hospitalizations, highlighting a need for better care of these individuals at the outpatient level. Formal social care services and close monitoring of particularly vulnerable subgroups of frail persons may mitigate this risk.