TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2019//
TI  - Life-space predicts health care utilization in community-dwelling older adults
JO  - Journal of aging and health
A1  - Kennedy, Richard E.
A1  - Williams, Courtney P.
A1  - Sawyer, Patricia
A1  - Lo, Alexander X.
A1  - Connelly, Kay
A1  - Nassel, Ariann
A1  - Brown, Cynthia J.
SP  - 280
EP  - 292
VL  - 31
IS  - 2
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 0898-2643
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0898264317730487
ID  - ref1
ER  -