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Causes of death in elderly nursing home residents
Goldberg TH, Botero A.. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 2008-09-07
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Objectives According to previous studies, 20% to 24% of deaths in the United States occur in nursing homes. This number is increasing. Overall vital statistics document that the leading causes of death in the United States remain cardiovascular/cerebrovascular and cancer, with Alzheimer's disease seventh as of 2004. However there are few statistics on causes of death specifically in the nursing home population. The objective of this study was to determine the most common causes of death in one nursing home in our practice, and specifically to see how common it was to die of dementia in the nursing home. Design, setting, and participants To improve on these inadequate data, we conducted a retrospective chart review study of all patients who died in a Philadelphia nursing home during a 6-month period from May to October 2006. The 2 authors manually extracted select data from individual charts including site, date and cause of death, patient age and comorbidities, and whether the patient was on hospice or had an advance directive. There was no intervention related to the study. Measurements/results Thirty-nine patients expired in the nursing facility during the 6-month study time period. The primary cause of death was determined to be Alzheimer's/dementia in 14 cases (36%), cardiac/cerebrovascular (30%), 9 pulmonary (23%), 3 hematologic and other malignancies (7%), and 1 ESRD. There were 66% patients on hospice and 89% had advance directives usually including a DNR/DNH order. None received resuscitation in the nursing home, and none had autopsies. Conclusion The single most common cause of death occurring within the nursing home was Alzheimer's, with most dying appropriately on hospice care. This is markedly different from the general population, where the most common causes of death are cardiac, pulmonary, renal, malignancies, infections, and accidents. However the true cause of death in the nursing home resident is often difficult to specify when patients often have little workup before they die and seldom have autopsies.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Goldberg, T. H., & Botero, A. (2008). Causes of death in elderly nursing home residents. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2008.04.011
Vancouver
Goldberg TH, Botero A. Causes of death in elderly nursing home residents. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 2008. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2008.04.011. PMID: 19083290.
BibTeX
@article{goldberg2008-19083290,
author = {Goldberg, T. H. and Botero, A.},
title = {{Causes of death in elderly nursing home residents}},
journal = {Journal of the American Medical Directors Association},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1016/j.jamda.2008.04.011},
pmid = {19083290},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2008.04.011}
}
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Key findings
- Overall vital statistics document that the leading causes of death in the United States remain cardiovascular/cerebrovascular and cancer, with Alzheimer's disease seventh as of 2004.
- Measurements/results Thirty-nine patients expired in the nursing facility during the 6-month study time period.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 36/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 36 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of the American Medical Directors Association) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2008 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multicenter collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 19083290) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 21 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 21 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 36 out of 100. |
| Total | 36 / 100 | — |
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