Mortality in a Home for the Aged Compared with That of the General Aged Population.

摘要

Survival rates for 507 female and 282 male residents of a home for the aged are compared with those of a matched sample from the general population over a 15-year period (April 1953 to April 1968). The cohort method, in which time is measured from entry into the institution, is used. The comparison population, drawn from published census reports, is comparable to the study group in age, race, sex, and geographic structure but could not be matched for mental or physical functioning, degree of illness, or medical prognosis. In general, the survival rates for the institutionalized population are considerably lower than those for the general population. The half-life of males in the general population is 5.0 years; in the institutionalized sample, 2.0 years. Among females, the control population has a half-life of 6.7 years compared to 2.8 years for the institutionalized sample. In both samples, all females taken together had higher survival rates than all males together. However, in the institutionalized sample, the disparity between the survival rates of males and females tended to diminish after the first 3 years following admission. During the first 3 years following admission, institutionalized females below age 75 have a lower probability of survival than institutionalized females aged 75 to 79. For each age group of both sexes in the institutionalized sample, the highest mortality rates occur within the first 3 months after admission. Implications for further study are noted. Tabular data and graphs are included.