BMJ  2005;330 (5 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7486.0-b

Control group is needed to assess admission avoidance schemes

As rates of hospital admission for people aged 65 years and over decline without any intervention, assessments of effectiveness of admission avoidance schemes cannot be judged by tracking admission rates without comparison with data from a control group. Roland and colleagues (p 289) analysed routine admission data from NHS hospitals in England. They found that people aged 65 and over who had at least two emergency admissions in 1997-8 made up about 38% of hospital admissions at baseline, but their percentage declined by more than 18% in the subsequent year and came down to just over 3% five years later.

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Follow up of people aged 65 and over with a history of emergency admissions: analysis of routine admission data

Martin Roland, Mark Dusheiko, Hugh Gravelle, and Stuart Parker
BMJ 2005 330: 289-292. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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