PREDICTING NURSING-HOME ADMISSIONS AMONG INCONTINENT OLDER ADULTS - ACOMPARISON OF RESIDENTIAL DIFFERENCES ACROSS 6 YEARS

Whether or not rates of nursing home admissions among elders with urin ary incontinence varied by their place of residence was investigated. We also examined whether any observed residential differences could be accounted for by factors other than incontinence that are known to in fluence rates of institutionalization. Data from the Longitudinal Stud y on Aging (1984-1990) were used to examine a sample who at baseline l ived in community settings and reported problems with urinary incontin ence (n = 719). Analyses indicate that residents of less urbanized and thinly populated nonmetropolitan counties were more likely to have a nursing home admission than elders in any other residential context. M ore importantly, these residential differences persisted in multivaria te logistic regression models after controls were introduced for socio demographic characteristics, measures of health status, and indicators of the social support networks of the elders.