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Table 2 Resident characteristics, treatment, and mortality

From: Improving comfort in people with dementia and pneumonia: a cluster randomized trial

 

Pre-intervention phase

Intervention phase

Characteristics

All (n = 399)

Control (n = 98)

Intervention (n = 112)

Control (n = 80)

Intervention (n = 109)

Demographics

 Female, % (n)

57.9 (231)

62.2 (61)

54.5 (61)

67.5 (54)2

50.5 (55)2

 Age, mean (SD)

84.2 (7.6)

84.3 (7.3)

85.6 (6.3)1

83.7 (8.4)

83.3 (8.1)1

Length of stay, months, median (interquartile range)

18 (30)

17 (29)

23 (32) 1

22 (38) 2

12 (27) 1, 2

Dementia type, % (n)

 Alzheimer’s

37.8 (151)

34.7 (34)

36.6 (41)

41.2 (33)

39.4 (43)

 Vascular

21.1 (84)

21.4 (21)

21.4 (24)

21.2 (17)

20.2 (22)

 Mixed

15.3 (61)

12.2 (12)2

23.2 (26)2, 1

12.5 (10)

11.9 (13)1

 Other

8.3 (33)

7.1 (7)

7.1 (8)

3.8 (3)2

13.8 (15)2

 Unknown

17.6 (70)

24.5 (24)2

11.6 (13)2

21.2 (17)

14.7 (16)

Dementia severity, mean BANS-S score, mean (SD)

16.1 (4.6)

15.7 (4.7)

16.6 (4.8)

15.9 (4.6)

16.0 (4.5)

Full ADL dependency, % (n)

15.1 (55)

15.1 (13)

18.0 (18)1

20.5 (16)2

8.0 (8)1, 2

Dressing

44.5 (165)

45.3 (39)

52.5 (53)1

42.9 (33)

37.0 (37)1

Walking

35.8 (129)

38.1 (32)

39.8 (39)

37.2 (29)

29.0 (29)

Eating

22 (81)

21.6 (19)

28.4 (29)1

24.4 (19)

14.0 (14)1

Hydration status,* dehydrated, % (n)

31.2 (123)

39.8 (39)1

30.6 (34)

24.4 (19)1

29.0 (31)

Clinical judgment of illness severity (range 1–9), mean (SD)

5.3 (1.5)

5.3 (1.3)

5.6 (1.5)

5.2 (1.4)

5.3 (1.6)

Prognostic score (range 0–31), mean (SD)

14.2 (5.4)

14.7 (5.6)

14.0 (5.5)

14.2 (5.9)

13.9 (5.3)

Comfort goal, % (n)

62.2 (248)

62.2 (61)

63.4 (71)

67.5 (54)

56.9 (62)

Antibiotic treatment, % (n)

87.1 (344)

89.8 (88)

88.3 (89)

82.1 (64)

86.9 (93)

Observed non-pharmacological measures**

52.9 (211)

52.0 (51)

49.1 (55)

62.5 (50)

50.5 (55)

Death within 14 days

20.2 (80)

24.7 (24)

17.1 (19)

18.8 (15)

20.2 (22)

Death within 6 months

43.6 (154)

44.6 (41)

36.9 (41)

44.9 (31)

40.6 (41)

  1. *Hydration status as judged by the attending physician; “mildly dehydrated,” “dehydrated,” and “severely dehydrated” were combined into “dehydrated”
  2. **Observed non-pharmacological measures during at least one observation day between day 1 and day 5 from diagnosis
  3. 1Significant difference between pre-intervention and intervention phase in control homes and intervention homes (p < 0.05)
  4. 2Significant difference between control homes and intervention homes during pre-intervention and intervention phase (p < 0.05)