@article{ref1,
title="Life-space predicts health care utilization in community-dwelling older adults",
journal="Journal of aging and health",
year="2019",
author="Kennedy, Richard E. and Williams, Courtney P. and Sawyer, Patricia and Lo, Alexander X. and Connelly, Kay and Nassel, Ariann and Brown, Cynthia J.",
volume="31",
number="2",
pages="280-292",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To determine whether decline in life-space mobility predicts increased health care utilization among community-dwelling older adults. <br><br>METHOD: Health care utilization (number of emergency department [ED] visits and hospitalizations) was self-reported during monthly interviews among 419 community-dwelling African American and non-Hispanic White adults aged 75 years and older in The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Study of Aging II. Life-space was measured using the UAB Life-Space Assessment. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine associations of life-space at the beginning of each interval with health care utilization over the 1-month interval. <br><br>RESULTS: Overall, 400 participants were followed for 36 months. A 10-point decrease in life-space was associated with 14% increased odds of an ED visit and/or hospitalization over the next month, adjusting for demographics, transportation difficulty, comorbidity, and having a doctor visit in the last month. <br><br>DISCUSSION: Life-space is a practical alternative in predicting future health care utilization to performance-based measures, which can be difficult to incorporate into clinical or public health practice.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0898-2643",
doi="10.1177/0898264317730487",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0898264317730487"
}