Citation

Wilson DM, Truman CD. Can. J. Aging 2003; 22(1): 127-131.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Cambridge Press)

DOI

10.1017/S0714980800003780

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

While there are 157,000 designated continuing care (CC) beds in Canada - beds that are only used by a rather distinct group of individuals - no comprehensive description of the CC resident population exists. An analysis of 1974-1997 Statistics Canada mortality data and 1992/93-1996/97 Alberta hospital utilization data was undertaken to provide a description of one segment of this population, those at the end of life. Statistics Canada data indicate that only a small (< 3%) proportion of deaths take place each year in CC facilities, with these persons 84.5 years of age on average, and most often female (62.5%), widowed (61.9%), and Canadian born (61.8%). The primary cause of death/diagnosis varied considerably, as it did for CC residents in Alberta who were transferred to acute care hospitals before dying there. The average hospital stay for transferred persons was 14.0 days in length, with these hospitalizations normally characterized by few diagnostic tests or treatments (mean = 0.9).

Language: en

Keywords

Aging; Continuing care; Hospital utilization; Resident population description