Predictors of Discharge Destinations and Three-Month Evolution of Patients Initially Hospitalized in a Cognitive Behavioral Unit

BACKGROUND Previous studies showed that a third of patients living at home entered an institution after hospitalization in Cognitive and Behavioral Units (CBUs). OBJECTIVE The main objective of this study was to identify predictors of discharge destination for these patients. The secondary objective was to estimate whether institutionalization can have an impact on a patient's long-term prognosis. METHODS The study population was selected from the EVITAL study and included 140 participants living at home before hospitalization in CBUs. Factors favoring nursing-home admission were investigated and the impact of discharge destinations (i.e., home or nursing home) on patients' prognosis was examined. RESULTS Institutionalized patients were more likely to be women (F = 4.7; p = 0.03), with a higher dementia severity (F = 9.82; p = 0.007), often living alone (F = 19.69; p = 0.001), with a caregiver other than spouse (F = 8.93; p = 0.003), and with a higher patient quality of life (QoL) according to the caregiver (F = 11.73; p = 0.001). When using multivariate logistic linear regressions, we showed a relationship between marital status (OR = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.08-0.43, p