Background: A key goal for services treating older persons is improving Quality of Life (QoL). This study aimed to 1) determine the QoL and utility (i.e. satisfaction with own quality of life) for participants of a discharge program for older people following an extended hospital episode of care and 2) examine the impact of the intensity of this program on utility gains over time.
Methods: A prospective observational cohort study with baseline and repeated measures follow up of 351 participants of the transition care program in six community sites in two states of Australia was conducted. All participants who gave consent to participate were eligible for the study. QoL and utility of the participants were measured at baseline, end of program, three and six months post baseline using the EQ-5D and ICECAP-O. Association between the intensity of the program, measured in hours of care given, and improvement in utility were tested using linear regression.
Results: The ICECAP-O yielded consistently higher utility values than the EQ-5D at all time points. Baseline mean (sd) utility scores were 0.55 (0.20) and 0.75(0.16) and at six months were 0.60 (0.28) and 0.84 (0.25) for the EQ-5D and ICECAP-O respectively. The ICECAP-O showed a significant improvement over time. The intensity of the post-acute program measured by hours delivered was positively associated with utility gains in this cohort.
Conclusions: A discharge program for older frail people following an extended hospital episode of care appears to maintain and generate improvements in QoL. The amount of gain was positively influenced by the intensity of the program.