Emergency department visits and hospitalizations by tube-fed nursing home residents with varying degrees of cognitive impairment: a national study

Table 1 Characteristics of nursing home residents with feeding tubes and characteristics by level of cognitive impairment (CI) ¹ *

Characteristic	Total sample (n = 3479), %	No/Mild CI (n = 785), %	Mild/Moderate CI (n = 1109), %	Moderate/Severe CI (n = 582), %	Very severe CI (n = 1003), %
Sociodemographics
Sex
Male	46	48	49	46	40
Female	54	52	51	54	60
Race/Ethnicity
White	73	86	79	70	58
Black	19	10	16	20	28
Other	8	4	5	10	14
Age group
65-75	27	36	25	24	25
76-85	47	47	49	47	44
86+	26	17	25	30	31
Married	40	44	41	39	36
Resident diagnoses & conditions
CVA	38	18	36	49	51
Stage 2+ pressure ulcer	37	29	35	33	48
ADL impairment level²
Independent-limited ADL	9	28	8	1	0
Assistance (0–12)	9	28	8	1	0
Extensive ADL assistance (13–17)	32	49	44	30	5
Total dependence in most ADLs (18–19)	17	11	21	25	12
Total dependence in all ADLs (20)	42	13	26	43	83
CHESS category
Mild (0)	20	15	19	22	26
Moderate (1–3)	75	85	75	73	69
Severe (4–5)	4	<1	6	5	5
Treatments & preferences
Do not resuscitate order	33	24	33	37	39
Any urinary catheter use	48	39	45	53	57

¹Cognitive status measured by the Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS) – No/Mild (0, 1); Mild/Moderate (2, 3); Moderate/Severe (4, 5), Very Severe (6).
²ADL Impairment Level is a composite measure of 0–4 level of impairment for each ADL of transferring, dressing, toileting, bathing, and eating yielding a total possible score of 20 (representing total dependence in ADLs). We defined 4 categories of ADL Impairment: Independent- Limited ADL Assistance (score 0–12); Extensive ADL Assistance (score 13–17); Total Dependence in Most ADLs (score 18–19); Total Dependence in all ADLs (score 20).
*All characteristics were significantly different across all 4 levels of CI (p < .0001).

ISSN: 1471-2318