Age and proximity to death as predictors of GP care costs: Results from a study of nursing home patients

This paper reports the results of a study of GP costs associated with a gro up of nursing home patients who died at various stages during a 12-month pe riod. The relationship between costs per month of care, patient age and pro ximity to death, where sex and diagnosis are controlled for are reported. A comparison of care costs for patients in their last year of life and those who survived the course of the study is also made. The study found that th ose in their last year of life were significantly more expensive to care fo r than those who survived the duration of the study, but that there was no statistically significant difference in age. In multivariate regression ana lyses, it was also found that among those who died during the study care co sts were unrelated to age, but significantly related to proximity to death. The study supports the contention of others (Zweifel P, Felder S, Meiers M . Ageing of population and health care expenditure: a red herring? Health E con 1999; 8: 485-496) that health care costs are more directly related to p roximity to death than age. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.