Dementia Is Associated with In-Hospital Mortality and Prolonged Length of Stay: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis on Administrative Data

Abstract

Highlights: What are the main findings? Patients with dementia are hospitalized for different diseases compared to patients without dementia. Dementia was associated with in-hospital mortality. Dementia was associated with prolonged length of stay. What are the implications of the main findings? The definition of the causes of these differences aims to improve surveillance systems. It is important to implement better management of dementia during hospital admission. Better management of dementia is also important to shorten discharge delay to other healthcare facilities. Background/Objectives: To investigate the relationship between dementia and hospital outcomes (in-hospital mortality and prolonged length of stay). Methods: A retrospective study was conducted considering all hospital admissions performed between 1st January 2018 and 31st December 2023 in the Abruzzo region, Italy. The study was conducted on a large sample including all elderly patients admitted to hospital in a Southern Italian region during a six year period. To compare outcomes between patients with and without dementia, a propensity score matching procedure was performed using a multivariable logistic model adjusted for age and gender and comorbidities. Odds ratios for primary and secondary outcomes were computed using logistic regression models. Results: After the matching procedure, 25,476 patients were included in the analyses: 12,738 with dementia and 12,738 controls. Logistic regression models showed that dementia was associated with in-hospital mortality (OR: 2.02; 95% CI 1.91–2.18; p < 0.001) and prolonged length of stay (OR: 1.44; 95% CI 1.29–1.58; p < 0.001). Conclusions: In a large cohort of Italian patients, dementia was associated with in-hospital mortality and prolonged length of stay.