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Objectives To evaluate whether the prevalence of health problems in cohabiting partners of people with dementia differs between the year before and the year after 3 transitions: the diagnosis of dementia, institutionalization, and the death of the person with dementia. Methods Individuals with dementia and their partners were identified on the basis of data in the electronic health records (EHRs) of 451 Dutch general practices. EHRs were also the data source on their health problems, which were linked to the Dutch population registry and health administration data with demographic characteristics, date of institutionalization, and date of death. Differences in the prevalence of 16 groups of health problems and of specific health problems in partners during the year before and the year after the 3 transitions were examined using a generalized estimating equation. Results About 1,110 partners of persons with dementia were identified. Problems related to the illness and/or loss of the person with dementia were significantly more prevalent in the year after the dementia diagnosis (32% vs. 17%) and in the year after the death of the person with dementia (59% vs. 41%) than in the years before. Unspecified health problems were more prevalent in the year after the diagnosis than in the year before (30% vs. 22%). After institutionalization, an increase was found in digestive problems and urological problems (30% vs. 18% and 24% vs. 17%). Discussion Transitions during the dementia care trajectory, namely, the diagnosis, institutionalization, and death of the person with dementia, significantly affect the cohabiting partner's health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The number of cancer survivors is steadily increasing and these patients often experience long-lasting health problems. To make care for cancer survivors sustainable for the future, it would be relevant to put the effects of cancer in this phase into perspective. Therefore, the authors compared health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and health care use among cancer survivors with that of patients with chronic diseases.Methods: Patients diagnosed at age >18 years with a cancer with a 5-year survival rate > 20% and no distant metastases at the time of diagnosis and patients aged >18 years with physician-diagnosed somatic chronic diseases without cancer were sent a questionnaire. HRQOL was measured with the RAND-36, a measure of HRQOL. Self-reported health care use was measured for general practitioner care, specialist care, rehabilitative care, physical therapy, ambulatory mental health care, and occupational health care.Results: A total of 601 cancer survivors and 1052 patients with chronic diseases without cancer were included in the current study. Multimorbidity was observed in 63% of the cancer survivors and 61% of the patients with chronic diseases. The HRQOL of the cancer survivors was significantly better than that of patients with chronic diseases after adjustment for age and sex. For the mental functioning subscale, no significant differences were found between the 2 groups. Cancer survivors were found to be less likely to have visited a general practitioner or cardiologist compared with patients with chronic diseases.Conclusions: When considering physical HRQOL and health care use, cancer survivors appear to fare better than the average patient with chronic diseases. No difference in mental functioning was observed in the current study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To examine health care utilization of people with multiple chronic diseases in The Netherlands compared to people with one chronic disease, and to identify different subgroups of multimorbid patients based on differences in health care utilization. Methods All patients diagnosed with one or more chronic diseases in 2008–2009 ( N = 17,443) were selected from the nationwide NIVEL Primary Care Database, and data on their GP contacts were included. Data on hospital admissions (from the Dutch Hospital Data database) and household size and income (from the Integral Household Incomes database 2010) were added. Chi-square-tests and multivariate regression analyses were performed to test for differences between multimorbid patients and patients with one chronic disease, and between subgroups of multimorbid patients derived from cluster analysis. Results Multimorbid patients (40% of the total sample) had more GP contacts, prescribed medications, and hospital admissions (all p < .0001) than patients with one chronic disease. The largest cluster of multimorbid patients (80%) was characterized by a relatively low level of health care utilization. Two smaller clusters comprised patients with a (very) high level of health care utilization — these people were mainly older, more often female, had a lower income, a smaller household size, and suffered from more chronic diseases. Conclusions Among the vast majority of multimorbid patients health care utilization is only slightly higher compared to patients with one chronic disease. Extensive health care utilization among people with multimorbidity seems to be related to patient characteristics as well as illness characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]