Factors Influencing Discharges to Hospice for Patients With Late-Stage Huntington's Disease.
Amy C Ogilvie, Ryan M Carnahan, Adys Mendizabal and 4 others
PMID 39167632WHAT IT FOUND
Only 7.0% of late-stage Huntington's disease hospitalizations were discharged to hospice.
Palliative care, weight loss, ventilation, and later study year were linked to hospice; depression, cognitive disorder, low income, and Medicare were linked to other discharge outcomes.
Key findings
01Only 7.0% of the 6,544 late-stage Huntington's disease hospitalizations were discharged to hospice, although the proportion rose significantly over 2007 to 2011.
02Compared with discharge to a facility, depression, cognitive disorder, longer stay, lower household income quartiles, and Medicare were associated with lower odds of hospice discharge, while weight loss, ventilation use, palliative care consultation, and later year were associated with higher odds.
03Aspiration pneumonia was associated with lower odds of discharge to hospice compared with death in hospital.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study did not measure Huntington's disease-specific severity, such as total functional capacity score. The late-stage Huntington's disease sample was small for this database, limiting power and adjusted models. Between 15 and 18 percent of data were missing for discharge disposition and race or ethnicity because of state reporting rules, limiting generalizability. The data are from 2007 to 2011 and may not reflect current discharge patterns or newer Huntington's disease therapies. Results apply only to hospitalized patients with late-stage Huntington's disease, not to those admitted from home or long-term care.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these factors as a validated hospice referral checklist or as proof that hospice or palliative care improves outcomes. The study used hospital discharge data from 2007 to 2011, found associations, and only 7.0% of hospitalizations were discharged to hospice.