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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Persons found in their homes helpless or dead | | Author(s) | R Jan Gurley, Nancy Lum, Merle Sande |
| Journal title | The New England Journal of Medicine, vol 334, 27 June 1996 |
| Pages | pp 1710-1716 |
| Keywords | Death ; Self care capacity ; Housebound ; At risk ; Living alone ; Ambulance services ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Little is known about who is at risk for being found alone at home and helpless or dead, mortality rates of those found alive, or how often such situations occur. In a 12 week period, paramedics in San Francisco identified 387 such events involving 367 people. Information was obtained on these patients from the emergency medical services department or the hospitals to which they were taken, and outcomes were determined. The median age was 73 years; 51% were women. The frequency of such incidents increased sharply with age, from 3 per 1000 per year among those aged 60-64 to 27 per 1000 among over 85s. The highest rate was among men aged over 85 living alone (123 per 1000 per year). In 23% of cases, the person was found dead. Of those found alive, 62% were admitted to hospital. Average hospital stay was 8 days; 52% of those admitted required intensive care. Of survivors, 62% were unable to return to living independently. Total mortality was 67% for those estimated to have been helpless for more than 72 hours, as compared with 12% for those who had been helpless for less than one hour. For older people living alone, becoming incapacitated usually marks the end of their ability to live independently. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980108231 A |
| Classmark | CW: CA: C6: CA3: K8: O8: 7T * |
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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