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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The prevalence of mental health problems among older adults admitted as an emergency to a general hospital | | Author(s) | Sarah E Goldberg, Kathy H Whittamore, Rowan H Harwood |
| Journal title | Age and Ageing, vol 41, no 1, January 2012 |
| Pages | pp 80-86 |
| Source | http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/ http://www.bgs.org.uk/ |
| Keywords | In-patients ; Admission [hospitals] ; General hospitals ; Accident & emergency depts ; Mental health [elderly] ; Mental disorder. |
| Annotation | The present study, based in a 1,800 bed teaching hospital, aimed to illustrate the high prevalence rate of co-morbid mental health problems among older adults admitted to general hospitals. Consecutive general medical and trauma orthopaedic admissions aged 70 or older were screened for mental health problems. Those screening positive were invited to undergo further assessment, and were interviewed to complete a battery of health status measurements. Of 1,004 patients screened, 36% had no mental health problems or had anxiety alone. Of those screening positive 250 took part in the full study. Adjusting for the two-stage sampling design, 50% of admitted patients over 70 were cognitively impaired, 27% had delirium and 8-32% were depressed. 6% had hallucinations, 8% delusions, 21% apathy and 9% agitation/aggression (of at least moderate severity). Of those with mental health problems, 47% were incontinent, 49% needed help with feeding and 44% needed major help to transfer. Study results confirmed the high prevalence of mental health problems among older adults admitted to general hospitals. These patients had high levels of functional dependency, psychological and behavioural problems with implications for how they should be cared for. Services that identify these problems and offer therapeutic intervention should be evaluated. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-120503009 A |
| Classmark | LF7: LD:QKH: LD3: LD6: D: E |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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