Characteristics of Working-Age Adults With Schizophrenia Newly Admitted to Nursing Homes.
Julie Hugunin, Yiyang Yuan, Jonggyu Baek and 4 others
PMID 34919836WHAT IT FOUND
Working-age adults with schizophrenia in nursing homes varied widely: younger adults had more psychiatric symptoms and suicidal ideation, older adults had more chronic disease and dependence in daily tasks, and community discharge was less likely with impairment or psychiatric symptoms
Key findings
01Younger working-age adults with schizophrenia had more psychiatric symptoms and suicidal ideation, while older adults had more ADL dependence, cognitive impairment, and chronic conditions.
02Community discharge was less likely when residents had physical or cognitive impairment, delusions, hallucinations, verbal or physical behaviors, or suicidal ideation.
03Only 3.2% received psychological therapy, about half received antidepressants, approximately one-third received antianxiety medications, and 6.3% received no psychotropic medication.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show what happened during the nursing home stay or whether a characteristic caused discharge or length of stay. It used only Minimum Data Set and Nursing Home Compare records, so it could not examine income, Medicaid eligibility, education, work history, family involvement, reason for admission, or local service availability. The adjusted models used complete cases (n = 20,501), fewer than the 28,330 residents described in the main sample. Schizophrenia and other conditions were identified from nursing home records and ICD codes, so the paper does not confirm clinical assessment of symptoms or treatment quality. The paper reports associations, not outcomes of any therapy, so it cannot tell clinicians which intervention would improve function or discharge.
Declared interests
No author conflict-of-interest declaration is included in the supplied text. The publication types list NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that nursing home placement caused these residents' symptoms, impairments, or poor discharge. The study is cross-sectional administrative data, so it cannot show why residents were admitted, whether placement was appropriate, or what treatment would improve outcomes