Nationwide data on home care and care home residence: presentation of the Swedish Social Service Register, its content and coverage

Aims: All Swedish municipalities are legally obliged to provide publicly funded elder care to individuals in need. The Swedish Social Service Register collects data on such care. It is the only nationwide source of information on care home residency and use of home care but has rarely been used for research. This study aims to present the content and coverage of the Social Service Register and to provide guidance for researchers planning to use these data. Methods: For each month between 2013 and 2020, we examined which of Sweden’s 290 municipalities reported data to the Social Service Register. We calculated proportions of the population (restricted to ages 80–89 years to enable comparison) that were reported to the Social Service Register in each municipality and presented the types and amount of care recorded in the register. Results: The proportion of municipalities reporting to the Social Service Register increased from 82% to 98% during the study period but several municipalities reported fragmentarily and inconsistently, particularly during earlier years. Among municipalities reporting to the Social Service Register, 9% of the population aged 80–89 years resided in care homes and 19% received home care, but the registered amount and types of care varied substantially between municipalities and over time. Conclusions: The Swedish Social Service Register provides valuable data for research on aging and elder care utilisation, but data should be selected and vetted carefully, especially for earlier years. The amount and types of care may not always be comparable between geographical regions and different time periods. In recent years, however, the coverage of the Social Service Register is good.

Vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 related hospital admission in the Netherlands: a test-negative case-control study

Introduction: Real-world vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates are essential to identify potential groups at higher risk of break-through infections and to guide policy. We assessed the VE of COVID-19 vaccination against COVID-19 hospitalization, while adjusting and stratifying for patient characteristics. Methods: We performed a test-negative case-control study in six Dutch hospitals. The study population consisted of adults eligible for COVID-19 vaccination hospitalized between May 1 and June 28 2021 with respiratory symptoms. Cases were defined as patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by PCR during the first 48 hours of admission or within 14 days prior to hospital admission. Controls were patients tested negative at admission and did not have a positive test during the 2 weeks prior to hospitalization. VE was calculated using multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for calendar week, sex, age, comorbidity and nursing home residency. Subgroup analysis was performed for age, sex and different comorbidities. Secondary endpoints were ICU-admission and mortality. Results: 379 cases and 255 controls were included of whom 157 (18%) were vaccinated prior to admission. Five cases (1%) and 40 controls (16%) were fully vaccinated (VE: 93%; 95% CI: 81-98), and 40 cases (11%) and 70 controls (27%) were partially vaccinated (VE: 70%; 95% CI: 50-82). A strongly protective effect of vaccination was found in all comorbidity subgroups. No ICU-admission or mortality were reported among fully vaccinated cases. Of unvaccinated cases, mortality was 10% and 19% was admitted at the ICU Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccination provides a strong protective effect against COVID-19 related hospital admission, in patients with and without comorbidity.

OpenSAFELY: impact of national guidance on switching anticoagulant therapy during COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundEarly in the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Health Service (NHS) recommended that appropriate patients anticoagulated with warfarin should be switched to direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs), requiring less frequent blood testing. Subsequently, a national safety alert was issued regarding patients being inappropriately coprescribed two anticoagulants following a medication change and associated monitoring.ObjectiveTo describe which people were switched from warfarin to DOACs; identify potentially unsafe coprescribing of anticoagulants; and assess whether abnormal clotting results have become more frequent during the pandemic.MethodsWith the approval of NHS England, we conducted a cohort study using routine clinical data from 24 million NHS patients in England.Results20 000 of 164 000 warfarin patients (12.2%) switched to DOACs between March and May 2020, most commonly to edoxaban and apixaban. Factors associated with switching included: older age, recent renal function test, higher number of recent INR tests recorded, atrial fibrillation diagnosis and care home residency. There was a sharp rise in coprescribing of warfarin and DOACs from typically 50–100 per month to 246 in April 2020, 0.06% of all people receiving a DOAC or warfarin. International normalised ratio (INR) testing fell by 14% to 506.8 patients tested per 1000 warfarin patients each month. We observed a very small increase in elevated INRs (n=470) during April compared with January (n=420).ConclusionsIncreased switching of anticoagulants from warfarin to DOACs was observed at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in England following national guidance. There was a small but substantial number of people coprescribed warfarin and DOACs during this period. Despite a national safety alert on the issue, a widespread rise in elevated INR test results was not found. Primary care has responded rapidly to changes in patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact of COVID-19 on Care-Home Mortality and Life Expectancy in Scotland

Background COVID-19 deaths are commoner among care-home residents, but the mortality burden has not been quantified. Methods Care-home residency was identified via a national primary care registration database linked to mortality data. Life expectancy was estimated using Makeham-Gompertz models, to (i) describe yearly life expectancy from November 2015 to October 2020 (ii) compare life expectancy (during 2016–2018) between care-home residents and the wider population and (iii) apply care-home life expectancy estimates to COVID-19 death counts to estimate years of life lost (YLL). Results Among care-home residents, life expectancy in 2015/16 to 2019/20 ranged from 2.7 to 2.3 years for women and 2.3 to 1.8 years for men. Age-sex specific life expectancy in 2016–2018 in care-home residents was lower than in the Scottish population (10 and 2.5 years in those aged 70 and 90 respectively). Applying care-home specific life expectancies to COVID-19 deaths yields, mean YLLs for care-home residents of 2.6 and 2.2 for women and men respectively. In total YLL care-home residents have lost 3,560 years in women and 2,046 years in men. Approximately half of deaths and a quarter of YLL attributed to COVID-19 were accounted for by the 5% of over-70s who were care-home residents. Conclusion COVID-19 infection has led to the loss of substantial years of life in care-home residents aged 70 years and over in Scotland. Prioritising the 5% of older adults who are care-home residents for vaccination is justified not only in terms of total deaths, but also in terms of years of life lost.

OpenSAFELY: impact of national guidance on switching from warfarin to direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in early phase of COVID-19 pandemic in England

BackgroundEarly in the COVID-19 pandemic the NHS recommended that appropriate patients anticoagulated with warfarin should be switched to direct acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs), requiring less frequent blood testing. Subsequently, a national safety alert was issued regarding patients being inappropriately co-prescribed two anticoagulants following a medication change, and associated monitoring.ObjectiveTo describe which people were switched from warfarin to DOACs; identify potentially unsafe co-prescribing of anticoagulants; and assess whether abnormal clotting results have become more frequent during the pandemic.MethodsWorking on behalf of NHS England we conducted a population cohort based study using routine clinical data from >17 million adults in England.Results20,000 of 164,000 warfarin patients (12.2%) switched to DOACs between March and May 2020, most commonly to edoxaban and apixaban. Factors associated with switching included: older age, recent renal function test, higher number of recent INR tests recorded, atrial fibrillation diagnosis and care home residency. There was a sharp rise in co-prescribing of warfarin and DOACs from typically 50-100 per month to 246 in April 2020, 0.06% of all people receiving a DOAC or warfarin. INR testing fell by 14% to 506.8 patients tested per 1000 warfarin patients each month. We observed a very small increase in elevated INRs (n=470) during April compared with January (n=420).ConclusionsIncreased switching of anticoagulants from warfarin to DOACs was observed at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in England following national guidance. There was a small but substantial number of people co-prescribed warfarin and DOACs during this period. Despite a national safety alert on the issue, a widespread rise in elevated INR test results was not found. Primary care has responded rapidly to changes in patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Long-Term Survival, Health, Social Functioning, and Education in Patients With an Enterovirus Central Nervous System Infection, Denmark, 1997–2016

Background The long-term clinical course of patients with an enterovirus central nervous system infection (ECI) is poorly understood. Methods We performed a nationwide population-based cohort study of all Danish patients with ECI diagnosed 1997–2016 (n = 1745) and a comparison cohort from the general population individually matched on date of birth and sex (n = 17 450). Outcomes were categorized into mortality and risk of cancer and likely measures of neurological sequelae: neuropsychiatric morbidities, educational landmarks, use of hospital services, employment, receipt of disability pension, income, number of sick leave days, and nursing home residency. Results Mortality in the first year was higher among patients with ECI (mortality rate ratio [MRR] = 10.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.17–24.1), but thereafter mortality was not higher (MMR = 0.94; 95% CI, 0.47–1.86). Long-term outcomes for patients with ECI were not inferior to those of the comparison cohort for risk of cancer, epilepsy, mental and behavioral disorders, dementia, depression, school start, school marks, high school education, use of hospital services, employment, receipt of disability pension, income, days of sick leave, or nursing home residency. Conclusions Diagnosis of an ECI had no substantial impact on long-term survival, health, or social/educational functioning.

2411. One Dose Vancomycin Prophylaxis for In-Hospital Clostridioides difficile - Associated Disease

Background Clostridioides difficile - associated disease (CDAD) is the most common cause of healthcare-associated diarrhea with increasing prevalence and mortality rates. Recent reports suggest that prophylactic administration of vancomycin or fidaxomicin might reduce in-hospital CDAD incidence. The aims of this study were to examine whether primary oral vancomycin prophylaxis (OVP) reduces the in-hospital incidence of CDAD in elderly patients treated with systemic antibiotics and its impact on 90-day readmission rate. Methods This single-center, retrospective cohort study included 484 patients ≥ 65 years who received antimicrobial therapy for ≥ 24 hours and were hospitalized for ≥ 72 hours during a 24-month period. Patients diagnosed with CDAD within the first 48 hours of hospitalization were excluded. OVP group received ≥ 1 dose of vancomycin 125 mg once per day. Results Patients within OVP group (122; 25.2%) had higher age adjusted Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) (8; IQR 6–10 vs. 6; 5–8), were more often hospitalized within 3 months (62; 50.8% vs. 121; 33.4%), more commonly received piperacillin/tazobactam (60; 49.2% vs. 81; 22.4%) and carbapenems (27; 22.1% vs. 43; 11.9%) with longer duration of antibiotic therapy (14; 10–20 vs 10; 10–14 days). CDAD was diagnosed in 3 (2.5%) patients in OVP, compared with 45 patients (12.4%, p = 0.0011) in control group. In logistic regression analysis CCI > 6 (OR 3.54; 95% CI 1.79–6.87), OVP (0.19; 0.06–0.57), nursing home residency (4.10; 2.40–7.02), carbapenems (3.14; 1.60–6.15) and piperacillin/tazobactam (5.43; 2.87–10.14) were associated with CDAD. In this cohort, 28 (23.7%) patients from OVP and 69 (21.7%) patients from control group had 90-day readmission. 6 patients in OVP (4 new episodes) and 21 (14 new episodes) in control group were admitted for CDAD. Only CDAD during index hospitalization was associated with 90-day readmission (HR 4.60; 95% CI 1.93–10.96). Conclusion Primary OVP was highly effective in reducing the risk of in-hospital CDAD in elderly patients treated with systemic antimicrobial therapy. Prospective studies with follow-up are needed to define long-term efficacy and potential risks of this strategy. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

Comparing Changes and Transitions of Home Care Clients in Retirement Homes and Private Homes

ABSTRACTLong-stay home care clients mostly reside in private homes or retirement homes, and the type of residence may influence risk factors for long-term care placement. This multi-state analytic study uses RAI-Home Care and administrative data from the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network to model conceptualized states of risk at baseline through a 13-month follow-up period. Modifiable risk factors in these states were client loneliness or depressive symptoms, and caregiver distress. A higher adjusted likelihood of being discharged deceased was found for the lowest-risk clients in retirement homes. Adjusting for client, service, and caregiver characteristics, retirement home residency was associated with higher likelihood of placement in a long-term care home; reduced caregiver distress; and increased client loneliness/depression. As an alternative to private home settings as the location for aging in place among these long-stay home care clients, retirement home residency represents some trade-offs between client and informal caregiver.

Predictors of dementia misclassification when using brief cognitive assessments

BackgroundBrief cognitive assessments can result in false-positive and false-negative dementia misclassification. We aimed to identify predictors of misclassification by 3 brief cognitive assessments; the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Memory Impairment Screen (MIS) and animal naming (AN).MethodsParticipants were 824 older adults in the population-based US Aging, Demographics and Memory Study with adjudicated dementia diagnosis (DSM-III-R and DSM-IV criteria) as the reference standard. Predictors of false-negative, false-positive and overall misclassification by the MMSE (cut-point <24), MIS (cut-point <5) and AN (cut-point <9) were analysed separately in multivariate bootstrapped fractional polynomial regression models. Twenty-two candidate predictors included sociodemographics, dementia risk factors and potential sources of test bias.ResultsMisclassification by at least one assessment occurred in 301 (35.7%) participants, whereas only 14 (1.7%) were misclassified by all 3 assessments. There were different patterns of predictors for misclassification by each assessment. Years of education predicts higher false-negatives (odds ratio [OR] 1.23, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.07–1.40) and lower false-positives (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.70–0.83) by the MMSE. Nursing home residency predicts lower false-negatives (OR 0.15, 95% CI 0.03–0.63) and higher false-positives (OR 4.85, 95% CI 1.27–18.45) by AN. Across the assessments, false-negatives were most consistently predicted by absence of informant-rated poor memory. False-positives were most consistently predicted by age, nursing home residency and non-Caucasian ethnicity (all p < 0.05 in at least 2 models). The only consistent predictor of overall misclassification across all assessments was absence of informant-rated poor memory.ConclusionsDementia is often misclassified when using brief cognitive assessments, largely due to test specific biases.