The Prediction of Healthcare Utilization by Frailty and Disability among Dutch Community-Dwelling People Aged 75 Years or Older

BackgroundPopulation aging is occurring worldwide. As a result, frailty and disability are in the full interest of practice, policy, and science. An increase in healthcare utilization is an adverse outcome of frailty and disability.ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was the prediction of six indicators of healthcare utilization by frailty and disability measures. The six indicators of healthcare utilization of interest were: use of informal care, number of visits to a general practitioner, hospital admission, receiving nursing care, receiving personal care, and contacts with (health)care professionals.MetodsWe used a sample of 484 people that was randomly drawn from the municipality of Roosendaal (the Netherlands), a municipality with 78,000 inhabitants. A subset of people who completed the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) at baseline and the Groningen Activity Restriction Scale (GARS) questionnaires was used with a nine-year followup. We used generalized estimation equations (GEE) to predict the six indicators with the frailty measures (physical, psychological, and social scores) and disability measures (ADL and IADL scores). We also performed GEE analyses adjusted for age, gender, and multimorbidity from part A of the TFI at baseline.ResultsThe significant predictors were different for each indicator. However, the physical frailty score, the ADL score, and the IADL score often emerged as significant predictors. These three variables predicted several indicators of healthcare utilization: use of informal care, number of visits to a general practitioner, hospital admission, receiving nursing care, receiving personal care, and contacts with (health)care professionals. The social score was found to be significant for the indicator use of disciplines.ConclusionsIn conclusion, our study showed that in particular physical frailty, and ADL and IADL disability predicted healthcare utilization in community-dwelling people aged 75 years or older. It is important that care and welfare professionals pay attention to physical frailty and both ADL and IADL disability aiming to diminish frailty and disability and preventing intensive healthcare utilization and related costs. Future research will have to focus on more representative Dutch municipalities in order to get a more reliable and accurate picture of the disciplines used by people with frailty and disability.