Research

Krista Harrison and Research Team Publish Article in JAGS

Drs. Krista Harrison, Alex Smith, Christine Ritchie, Lauren Hunt, Kenneth Covinsky, Kristine Yaffe, and statistician Kanan Patel have published an article in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society titled "Care Settings and Clinical Characteristics of Older Adults with Moderately Severe Dementia". This study uses the National Health Aging and Trends Study (NHATS) to estimate that 3.3 million older adults developed incident moderately severe dementia between 2012 and 2016. Within this cohort, 64% received care at home, 19% in residential care, and 17% in a nursing facility. social, functional, and medical characteristics differed across care settings. Older adults living at home were 2 to 5 times more likely to be members of disadvantaged populations and had more medical needs: 71% reported bothersome pain compared with 60% in residential care or 59% in nursing homes.

Dr. Joanne Lynn wrote a related editorial.