BACKGROUND: Many persons living with dementias (PLWD) prefer to remain at home as long as possible, and days spent at home (DAH)-defined as the time an individual spends outside of healthcare facilities-has emerged as a person-centred outcome measure in this population. We examined the association between DAH and functional status and health among PLWD.
METHODS: Utilizing a nationally representative cohort of individuals age 65 and older in the United States with dementia from the 2010-2018 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we assessed the relationship between an ordinal categorical DAH variable and number of activities of daily living (ADLs) (range 0-10; 10 being independent), mobility (0-5; 5 being mobile), and self-rated health (SRH) (0-4; 4 being excellent), controlling for patient characteristics. DAH was defined as the number of self-reported days spent outside a hospital or nursing home in the time between survey waves, typically 730 days.
RESULTS: We identified 3002 participants (4192 observations, average 1.4 observations per participant). The mean DAH was 704.4 days (SD 10.8 days) and 64.9% spent all days at home (i.e. 730 days). A 2-week decrease in DAH was associated with a lower ADL score by 0.32 points (95% confidence internal [CI]: 0.24-0.40, P-for-trend<0.001), a lower mobility score by 0.18 points (95% CI: 0.13-0.22, P-for-trend<0.001), and a lower SRH by 0.05 points (95% CI: 0.02-0.08, P-for-trend<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that DAH is positively associated with important patient-reported outcomes among the dementia population, strengthening the argument for considering DAH as a meaningful outcome measure for PLWD.

BACKGROUND: Many health systems are trying to support the ability of older adults to remain in their homes for as long as possible. Little is known about the relationship between patient-reported social risks and length of time spent at home. We assessed how social risks were associated with days at home for a cohort of older Veterans at high risk for hospitalization and mortality.
METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional study using a 2018 survey of 3479 high-risk Veterans aged ≥65 linked to Veterans Health Administration data. Social risks included measures of social resources (i.e., no partner present, low social support), material resources (i.e., not employed, financial strain, medication insecurity, food insecurity, and transportation barriers), and personal resources (i.e., low medical literacy and less than high school education). We estimated how social risks were associated with days at home, defined as the number of days spent outside inpatient, long-term care, observation, or emergency department settings over a 12-month period, using a negative binomial regression model.
RESULTS: Not having a partner, not being employed, experiencing transportation barriers, and low medical literacy were respectively associated with 2.57, 3.18, 3.39, and 6.14 fewer days at home (i.e., 27% more facility days, 95% confidence interval [CI] 8%-50%; 42% more facility days, 95% CI 7%-89%; 34% more facility days, 95% CI 7%-68%; and 63% more facility days, 95% CI 27%-109%). Experiencing food insecurity was associated with 2.62 more days at home (i.e., 24% fewer facility days, 95% CI 3%-59%).
CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that screening older Veterans at high risk of community exit for social risks (i.e., social support, material resources, and medical literacy) may help identify patients likely to benefit from home- and community-based health and social services that facilitate remaining in home settings. Future research should focus on understanding the mechanisms by which these associations occur.

BACKGROUND: Research shows women experience higher mortality than men after cardiac surgery but information on sex-differences during postoperative recovery is limited. Days alive and out of hospital (DAH) combines death, readmission and length of stay, and may better quantify sex-differences during recovery. This main objective is to evaluate (i) how DAH at 30-days varies between sex and surgical procedure, (ii) DAH responsiveness to patient and surgical complexity, and (iii) longer-term prognostic value of DAH.
METHODS: We evaluated 111,430 patients (26% female) who underwent one of three types of cardiac surgery (isolated coronary artery bypass [CABG], isolated non-CABG, combination procedures) between 2009 - 2019. Primary outcome was DAH at 30 days (DAH30), secondary outcomes were DAH at 90 days (DAH90) and 180 days (DAH180). Data were stratified by sex and surgical group. Unadjusted and risk-adjusted analyses were conducted to determine the association of DAH with patient-, surgery-, and hospital-level characteristics. Patients were divided into two groups (below and above the 10th percentile) based on the number of days at DAH30. Proportion of patients below the 10th percentile at DAH30 that remained in this group at DAH90 and DAH180 were determined.
RESULTS: DAH30 were lower for women compared to men (22 vs. 23 days), and seen across all surgical groups (isolated CABG 23 vs. 24, isolated non-CABG 22 vs. 23, combined surgeries 19 vs. 21 days). Clinical risk factors including multimorbidity, socioeconomic status and surgical complexity were associated with lower DAH30 values, but women showed lower values of DAH30 compared to men for many factors. Among patients in the lowest 10th percentile at DAH30, 80% of both females and males remained in the lowest 10th percentile at 90 days, while 72% of females and 76% males remained in that percentile at 180 days.
CONCLUSIONS: DAH is a responsive outcome to differences in patient and surgical risk factors. Further research is needed to identify new care pathways to reduce disparities in outcomes between male and female patients.

Time spent at home may aid in understanding recovery following traumatic brain injury (TBI) among older adults, including those with Alzheimer\'s disease and related dementias (ADRD). We examined the impact of ADRD on recovery following TBI and determined whether socioeconomic disadvantages moderated the impact of ADRD.
We analyzed Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥65 years diagnosed with TBI in 2010-2018. Home time was calculated by subtracting days spent in a care environment or deceased from total follow-up, and dual eligibility for Medicaid was a proxy for socioeconomic disadvantage.
A total of 2463 of 20,350 participants (12.1%) had both a diagnosis of ADRD and were Medicaid dual-eligible. Beneficiaries with ADRD and Medicaid spent markedly fewer days at home following TBI compared to beneficiaries without either condition (rate ratio 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.64, 0.69).
TBI resulted in a significant loss of home time over the year following injury among older adults with ADRD, particularly for those who were economically vulnerable.
Remaining at home after serious injuries such as fall-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an important goal for older adults. No prior research has evaluated how ADRD impacts time spent at home after TBI. Older TBI survivors with ADRD may be especially vulnerable to loss of home time if socioeconomically disadvantaged. We assessed the impact of ADRD and poverty on a novel DAH measure after TBI. ADRD-related disparities in DAH were significantly magnified among those living with socioeconomic disadvantage, suggesting a need for more tailored care approaches.

It is well-known that older adults have poorer recovery following traumatic brain injury (TBI) relative to younger adults with similar injury severity. However, most older adults do recover well from TBI. Identifying those at increased risk of poor recovery could inform appropriate management pathways, facilitate discussions about palliative care or unmet needs, and permit targeted intervention to optimize quality of life or recovery. We sought to explore heterogeneity in recovery from TBI among older adults as measured by home time per month, a patient-centered metric defined as time spent at home and not in a hospital, urgent care, or other facility. Using data obtained from Medicare administrative claims data for years 2010-2018, group-based trajectory modeling was employed to identify unique trajectories of recovery among a sample of United States adults age 65 and older who were hospitalized with TBI. We next determined which patient-level characteristics discriminated poor from favorable recovery using logistic regression. Among 20,350 beneficiaries, four unique trajectories were identified: poor recovery (n = 1929; 9.5%), improving recovery (n = 2,793; 13.7%), good recovery (n = 13,512; 66.4%), and declining recovery (n = 2116; 10.4%). The strongest predictors of membership in the poor relative to the good recovery trajectory group were diagnosis of Alzheimer\'s disease and related dementias (ADRD; odd ratio [OR] 2.42; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.16, 2.72) and dual eligibility for Medicaid, a proxy for economic vulnerability (OR 5.13; 95% CI 4.59, 5.74). TBI severity was not associated with recovery trajectories. In conclusion, this study identified four unique trajectories of recovery over one year following TBI among older adults. Two-thirds of older adults hospitalized with TBI returned to the community and stayed there. Recovery of monthly home time was complete for most by 3 months post injury. An important sub-group comprising 10% of patients who did not return home was characterized primarily by eligibility for Medicaid and diagnosis of ADRD. Future studies should seek to further characterize and investigate identified recovery groups to inform management and development of interventions to improve recovery.

Despite advances in the management of hematologic malignancies, a significant proportion of patients die of their disease. We used administrative databases in Ontario, Canada (between 2005 and 2013) to determine the number of days spent at home in the last 6 months of life. We studied the predictors of the median number of days at home (DAH) using quantile regression. For the 11,127 patients with hematologic malignancies who died, the median number of DAH in the last 6 months was 156 days. Patients with acute leukemias (p < .0001), women (p < .0001), and those requiring transfusions (p < .0001) spent the fewest DAH. Patients assessed by palliative care prior to their last 6 months were likely to spend more time at home (p < .0001). Providing additional supports for patients nearing the end of life, including earlier access to palliative care and continued transfusion support, may increase the likelihood that patients can die at home.

Days spent at home has recently been identified as an important patient-centered outcome; yet, relatively little is known about time spent at home at the end of life among community-living older persons.
The analytic sample included 457 decedents from an ongoing cohort study of 754 community-living persons, aged ≥70 years. Days spent at home were calculated as 180 days minus the number of days in a hospital, nursing home, or hospice facility. The condition leading to death was determined from death certificates and comprehensive assessments.
The median number of days at home was 159 (interquartile range 125-174). There were 138 (30.2%) decedents at home during the entire 6-month period, while 163 (35.7%) were at home for fewer than 150 days. Days at home did not differ significantly by age (P = .922), sex (P = .238), or race/ethnicity (P = .199), but did differ according to the condition leading to death (P = .001), with the lowest value observed for organ failure (150 [106.5-168.5]), highest values for sudden death (177 [172-179]) and cancer (167 [140-174]), and intermediate values for advanced dementia (164 [118-174]), frailty (160.5 [130-174]), and other conditions (153 [118-175]).
Among community-living older persons, days spent at home in the last 6 months of life do not differ by age, sex, or race/ethnicity, but are significantly lower for persons dying from organ failure. Additional efforts may be warranted to optimize time spent at home at the end of life, especially among older persons dying from organ failure.

Within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the largest integrated health care system in the US, approximately 8.5 million Veteran patients receive informal care. Despite a need for training, half of VHA caregivers report that they have not received training that they deemed necessary. Rigorous study is needed to identify effective ways of providing caregivers with the skills they need. This paper describes the Helping Invested Families Improve Veterans\' Experience Study (HI-FIVES), an ongoing randomized controlled trial that is evaluating a skills training program designed to support caregivers of cognitively and/or functionally impaired, community-dwelling Veterans who have been referred to receive additional formal home care services. This two-arm randomized controlled trial will enroll a total of 240 caregiver-patient dyads. For caregivers in the HI-FIVES group, weekly individual phone training occurs for 3 weeks, followed by 4 weekly group training sessions, and two additional individual phone training calls. Caregivers in usual care receive information about the VA Caregiver Support Services Program services, including a hotline number. The primary outcome is the number of days a Veteran patient spends at home in the 12 months following randomization (e.g. not in the emergency department, inpatient or nursing home setting). Secondary outcomes include patient VHA health care costs, patient and caregiver satisfaction with VHA health care, and caregiver depressive symptoms. Outcomes from HI-FIVES have the potential to improve our knowledge of how to maximize the ability to maintain patients safely at home for caregivers while preventing poor mental health outcomes among caregivers.