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Mortality in aged care

A significant number of Australians interact with the aged care system. In June 2015 about 177, 000 people were in residential care, and public funding to the sector was over $9b per year. Temple and Jukic used administrative data from residential care needs assessments. These record needs relating to activities of daily living (ADL ; e.g. domestic activities), behavioural (e.g. cognitive skills) and complex health care (e.g. special feeding), as well as detailed health status information. The dataset lacks geographical and facility information, preventing analysis of mortality across regions or socio-economic groups. They modelled life expectancy by level of care need and probabilities of transition between different levels of need. Those with higher needs have significantly lower life expectancy, with ADL needs shortening life more than behavioural needs (Figure 6). Different diseases are also incorporated into the modelling, so life expectancy can be estimated based on disease status. One result is that rising care needs have not been accompanied by rising mortality, which will impact costs. Such insights are relevant for designing aged care services, workforce planning, and budgeting.

Australia ; Mortality ; Life expectancy ; Ageing ; Aged Care

Pozvano predavanje, Melbourne Town Hall. Mortality in Australia: Marking the 150th Anniversary of the First Australian Life Table.