Older Adults Often Don't Get the Care They Need

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many older adults appear to receive only a portion of the medical care that is recommended for them, and those who receive more care are more likely to stay alive over a three-year period, according to new study findings released Monday.

The study findings suggest that quality of care is "strongly associated with better survival among community-dwelling vulnerable older adults," Dr. Takahiro Higashi of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues report.

After reviewing the available literature, Higashi and colleagues established a set of criteria to measure quality of care for a range of conditions, including diabetes, dementia, pneumonia, arthritis and other ailments common to older adults.

The researchers then applied 207 criteria designed to measure quality of care to 372 people aged 65 or older who were living at home, but had a relatively high risk of declining or dying soon. All adults were members of two managed care plans.

On average, patients received 53 percent of the care processes prescribed for them.

"There was a graded positive relationship between quality score and three-year survival," the researchers write in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

They conclude that "better quality of care, as measured by a broad set of quality indicators, is associated with better survival among community-dwelling vulnerable older persons."

They add that since older adults appear to receive only half the care they should, lapses in care quality may cause "unnecessary deaths" in some vulnerable, older adults.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Sankey V. Williams of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia notes that the findings "remind us that if vulnerable patients want the best we have to offer, we should do everything we can for them, not just what seems practical."

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, August 16, 2005.