Trial finds no reduction in hospital days with home geriatric care
Over 24 months, participants averaged 16.2 hospital days with added team-based care versus 17.6 with usual care alone, a difference that was not statistically significant.
24 months, registered NCT02923843
Limit: With 450 participants, wide variation in hospital days could leave the trial underpowered
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
The randomized trial enrolled 450 adults aged 75 or older in southern Sweden who lived at home, had at least three diagnosed diseases and had visited an emergency department at least three times in the previous 18 months. Their average age was 83, and 245 were women.
Researchers assigned 225 participants to usual care plus comprehensive geriatric assessment—a review of medical, psychological, social and everyday needs—and care from a mobile team for 24 months. The other 225 received usual care alone. Hospital days did not differ significantly between groups. Neither did deaths, quality of life, physical performance, frailty—a reduced ability to withstand health problems—ability to manage daily activities, or thinking and memory.
Why it matters
Quality of life and the ability to manage daily tasks matter alongside survival in later life. The trial addressed whether coordinating care around older adults’ medical and everyday needs could improve these outcomes.
Caveats
This single-center trial involved people aged at least 75 with multiple diseases and frequent emergency visits, so its findings do not necessarily apply to other older populations. The authors questioned the intervention’s quality and speculated that limited continuity and team building could have contributed to the results.
From the paper
- Participants
A total of 450 participants were recruited, with 225 in the intervention group and 225 in the control group.
- Who took part
Patients meeting the following inclusion criteria were included in the study: ≥ 75 years of age, ≥ 3 visits to the Emergency Department in the last 18 months, ≥ 3 diseases diagnosed according to different ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision) chapters, living in their own home and within the catchment area of Helsingborg Hospital …
- Ages
The mean age of all participants at baseline was 83 years and 245 were female (54%).
- Duration
The patients remained under the care of the interdisciplinary team for 24 months after recruitment.
- Hospital days
At 24-month follow-up, the recorded mean cumulative number of days spent in hospital was not significantly different in the interventions and control groups.
- Mortality
There was no difference in mortality between the groups, hazard ratio 1.14 (95% CI 0.77–1.71); p = 0.51, Fig..
- Frailty
Quality of life, number of hospital admissions, physical performance, frailty level, and ability to perform activities of daily living or cognition also did not differ significantly between the intervention and control group at 12- or 24-month follow-up.
Quoted word for word from the full text on PubMed Central.
The paper
Lund University
European Geriatric Medicine, Jul 6, 2026, Open access
