THE EFFECTS OF DEMENTIA IN GERMAN ACUTE-CARE HOSPITALS

In this study a representative sample of German acute care hospitals i s used to describe the effects of dementia within acute care hospitals . Data from hospital patients above age 60 with the diagnosis dementia (ICD 290, 293, 294 and 310), collected over an observation period of 12 years, are compared with nondemented hospital patients at the same ages. The differences in the average length of stay between demented a nd nondemented patients are only relatively small in German acute care hospitals. The degree of multimorbidity is higher and hospital infect ions are more frequent for demented patients. The main differences occ ur with mortality: demented inpatients of both sexes experience a hosp ital mortality which is about twice as high as for nondemented patient s at the same ages.