Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on care-quality outcomes in older adults admitted to hospital with altered mental status

Adam Fluck, Chris H Fry, Jonathan Robin, David Fluck, Thang S Han*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

Abstract

Objectives
During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, patients with altered mental status (AMS: dementia, delirium and delirium superimposed on dementia) were profoundly affected by an abrupt transformation in healthcare systems. Here, we evaluated quality-care outcomes, including length of stay (LOS), in-hospital mortality, early readmission and mortality after hospital discharge, in older adults admitted for AMS during the pandemic and compared them to patients admitted prior to the pandemic.

Methods
Chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests were used to examine changes to admissions for AMS before and during the pandemic, and their outcomes. Logistic regression analyses, with reference to pre-pandemic data, were conducted to examine the impact of the pandemic on outcomes.

Design
Prospective data of 21,192 non-COVID admissions to an acute general medical department in a Surrey (UK) hospital were collected from patients admitted before (1st April 2019 to 29th February 2020) and during the pandemic (1st March 2020 to 31st March 2021).

Results
There were 10,173 (47.7% men) from the pre-pandemic and 11,019 (47.5% men) from the pandemic periods; overall mean age = 68.3yr. During the pandemic AMS patients had significantly higher admission rates (1.1% vs 0.6%, P < 0.001). However, median LOS in hospital was shorter (9.0 days [IQR = 5.3–16.2] vs 15.5 days [IQR = 6.2–25.7], P < 0.001) and thus were less likely to stay in hospital >3 weeks: adjusted OR = 0.26 (95%CI = 0.12–0.57). In-hospital mortality and readmission within 28 days of discharge did not change during the pandemic, but were less likely to die within 30 days of discharge: adjusted OR = 0.32 (95%CI = 0.11–0.96).

Conclusions
This combination of higher admission rate, shorter LOS, and an unchanging early readmission suggests a higher admission-discharge turnover of different patients with AMS and provides important insights into the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare delivery to individuals with AMS.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere6125
Number of pages7
JournalInternational Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
Volume39
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Jul 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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