Browsing by Subject "yksinasuminen"

Aims Hospitalisations due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) are hospitalisations which could have been prevented by primary care interventions. Hospitalisations due to ACSCs have been used to indirectly evaluate effectiveness and quality of primary care. Previous studies have shown that the risk is higher among those who live in low-income neighborhoods, have low education, live alone, are elderly and male. Present study examined the association between living alone and socioeconomic position with the risk of being hospitalised due to ACSCs among the elderly. Methods Data for the current study was obtained from the Hospital Discharge Register (HDR), which contained information of all hospitalisations due to ACSCs of men and women over 65 years who lived in Finland during 2013. Hospitalisation risk was calculated by using age-standardised rates per 100 000 person years. Standardisation was made by using direct method, with the 2013 population as a standard. Risk ratios for ACSC hospitalisation were examined by living conditions, education, age and gender and compared to each other in four groups. Results and conclusions Living alone and low socioeconomic position increased the risk of hospitalisations due to ACSCs among the elderly. Men who lived alone had higher relative risk (RR) than women who lived alone, those with basic education had higher relative risk than those with upper secondary or tertiary education. To decrease the number of hospitalisations due to ACSCs it is necessary to pay more attention to the risk of social isolation of the particularly vulnerable elderly who live alone, already in primary care.