Abstract
The aims of this study were to examine the relationship between living with family and discharging to home and the relationship between living with family and length of hospital stay for Japanese patients after hip fracture surgery who were 65 years old and older.
This is a correlational analysis of data retrospectively collected from medical charts of patients hospitalized for hip fracture surgery in two hospitals in Japan between 2000 and 2002. After bivariate analyses, possible confounders were included in logistic regression for the outcome variable of discharging to home.
As a result of logistic regression, living with family independently predicted discharging to home after adjusting for dementia, place of residence just before fracture, ambulatory ability at discharge, and hospital. When change in ambulatory ability from before fracture to at discharge was adjusted, however, living with family was no longer an independent predictor of going home. Living with family was not related to shorter length of hospital stay. Patients who went home had longer lengths of hospital stay with higher ambulatory ability at discharge than patients who went to nursing homes. In this study generally, living with family predicted discharging to home but on the contrary, length of stay terded to be increased. Daughter might be able to take care of patients and they could be discharged earlier; however, most patients did not live with daughter. Therefore, living with daughter unlikely practically reduces LOS. Patients could go home if family members lived with them and when patients recovered ambulatory ability.
