Emergency hospital admissions among older adults living alone in the community

Table 4 The joint associations between living alone and multimorbidity (two or more chronic diseases) on ED admission outcomes

	ED admission risk [OR (95 % CI)]°	Inpatient days [Mean increase (95 % CI)]°	Inpatient costs (USD) [Mean increase (95 % CI)]°
Living with others and with no multimorbidity (n=5,854)	1.00 (Ref.)	0.00 (Ref.)	0.00 (Ref.)
Living with others and with multimorbidity (n=9,619)	1.31*** (1.17 - 1.46)	0.31** (0.10 - 0.53)	353*** (205 - 501)
Living alone with no multimorbidity (n=472)	1.35* (1.00 - 1.82)	1.13** (0.39 - 1.86)	555* (74 - 1,036)
Living alone with multimorbidity (n=840)	1.64*** (1.33 - 2.03)	0.73** (0.29 - 1.17)	567*** (230 - 906)

°Adjusted for age, gender, education, physical function, instrumental limitations, depressive symptoms, mild cognitive impairment, social support, social activity, primary care visits, ED admission outcomes for the year preceding interview date and mortality within analysis period. Those living with others and with no multimorbidity (reference group) had a mean inpatient length of stay of 1.27 days and mean inpatient cost of 920 USD
*p-value<0.05; **p-value<0.01 ***p-value<0.001

ISSN: 1472-6963