BMJ 2000;321:512 ( 19 August )

Letters

Preventive home visits to elderly people in the community

    Visits are most useful for people aged ⩾75
    Studies reviewed have methodical flaws
    Further research is needed
    Author's reply

Visits are most useful for people aged >= 75

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---The systematic review by van Haastregt et al of trials of preventive home visits for people aged 65 or over reported that "no clear evidence was found in favour" of such visits.1 Some of the trials reviewed showed favourable effects in some of the five main outcome measures (physical functioning, psychosocial functioning, falls, admissions to institutions, and mortality), but most found no effect. However, the review shows that favourable outcomes were more prevalent in studies conducted in older subjects (>= 75), although it does not comment on this. The table is constructed from the analysis they report.

Outcomes of physical functioning are the exception, with only one of the five favourable studies being in people aged 75 and over. This is not unexpected. It may be easier to improve physical functioning in the group aged 65 or over generally than in the group aged 75 or over specifically.

General practitioners in Australia . . . [Full text of this article]
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Effects of preventive home visits to elderly people living in the community: systematic review
Jolanda C M van Haastregt, Jos P M Diederiks, Erik van Rossum, Luc P de Witte, and Harry F J M Crebolder
BMJ 2000 320: 754-758. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ