USING MULTIDIMENSIONAL HEALTH MEASURES IN OLDER PERSONS TO IDENTIFY RISK OF HOSPITALIZATION AND SKILLED NURSING PLACEMENT

We examine the relationship between multidimensional measures of funct ion and outcomes in a cohort of older persons admitted to the resident ial care level of a multi-level long-term care facility. We collected self-reported measures of various aspects of health using the Medical Outcome Study Short-form Health Survey (SF-20) and the Dartmouth COOP charts, as well as performance-based measures of physical and cognitiv e function. Subjects (mean age 84.3 years) were followed for a median of 557 days. In multivariate analyses, emotional function (measured by either the SF-20 or COOP method) was a predictor of placement in skil led care. Self-reported overall health (measured by either the SF-20 o r COOP method) and timed manual performance were predictive of hospita lization. Change on the functional status measures between 2 points in time was not associated with later placement in skilled care except i n the case of timed manual performance. In an older population at risk for frequent and numerous health events, this study shows that two po pularized self-report methods for assessing function yield results tha t predict future outcomes of great importance to older persons. Howeve r, measures that predict use of long-term care may not predict use of the hospital and vice versa.