Risk Factors for Emergency Department Visits or Hospitalizations Among Older Adults With Urinary Incontinence in Home Health Care.

The study used home health episode data from one agency in the Northeastern United States, so results may not match other home health settings. It was a cross-sectional secondary analysis, so it can show associations but not prove that any factor caused an ED visit or hospitalization. There was no comparison group of home health episodes without urinary incontinence, so the factors may not be unique to urinary incontinence. The team did not know the admitting diagnosis or reason for the ED visit or hospitalization, so it cannot say whether urinary incontinence or a listed symptom directly led to the acute care event. Symptom clusters came from a limited list of symptoms and did not account for severity or change over time. The outcome combined ED visits and hospitalizations, so it cannot separate which factor was linked to each type of acute care use. Data were from 2015 through 2017, so documentation practices and patient factors may differ now.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The supplied metadata notes research support from U.S. government and NIH extramural sources, but the article text does not state who funded the work.

Do not read these findings as proof that treating urinary incontinence prevents ED visits or hospitalizations. The study did not include a comparison group without urinary incontinence, did not know the admitting diagnosis, and reported associations rather than tested treatment effects.