A prospective study of hospital episodes of adults with intellectual disability.
T Iacono, C Bigby, J Douglas and 1 others
PMID 32173949WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with intellectual disability had 157 hospital episodes, mostly starting in emergency departments.
Twenty-six re-presentations occurred within 72 hours and 59 within 30 days, while emergency stays averaged 6.5 hours.
Key findings
01Adults with intellectual disability had 157 hospital episodes, and 150 of those episodes began in the emergency department.
02Twenty-six re-presentations occurred within 72 hours across 12 participants, and 59 occurred within 30 days across 23 participants.
03Emergency department stays averaged 6.5 hours, and the 4-hour national benchmark was met in 60 episodes (40%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Adults with ID were identified by hospital researchers, and it is likely that participants with milder ID were missed. Few planned admissions were documented because advanced recruitment met with little success. The small number of participants and episodes did not allow meaningful comparisons or exploration of associations across variables. The study could not determine whether re-presentations were for the same condition as the previous presentation. Data were collected from public hospitals in Victoria, Australia, and the implications are presented cautiously because there was no population sampling strategy.
Declared interests
This report was funded with assistance from a grant offered under the National Disability Research and Development Agenda, jointly implemented by disability representatives from Commonwealth, State and Territory governments.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the frequent re-presentations as proof that hospital care failed for every participant. The study could not determine whether re-presentations were for the same condition as the previous presentation, so the reasons for them remain unknown.