Table 1. Baseline Characteristics of Nursing Home Residents with Advanced Dementia and Their Health Care Proxies, by Health Insurance Status.
| Characteristic | All residents (n=291)a |
Fee for Service (n=158) |
Managed Care (n=133) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resident age, mean (SD) | 85.5 (7.5) | 85.2 (7.5) | 85.7 (7.5) |
| Female resident | 249 (86%) | 128 (81%) | 121 (91%) b |
| White race | 261 (90%) | 145 (92%) | 116 (87%) |
| Did not live in a special care unit for dementia | 164 (56%) | 92 (58%) | 72 (54%) |
| Nursing home length of stay < 3 years | 132 (45%) | 77 (49%) | 55 (41%) |
| Score 0 on Test for Severe Impairment c | 213 (73%) | 110 (70%) | 103 (77%) |
| Score on Bedford Alzheimer Nursing Severity Subscale d, mean (SD) | 21.0 (2.2) | 21.0 (2.2) | 21.0 (2.3) |
| Comorbid baseline conditions | |||
| Congestive heart failure | 49 (17%) | 35 (22%) | 14 (11%) b |
| Chronic obstructive lung disease | 30 (10%) | 18 (11%) | 12 (9%) |
| Active cancer | 3 (1%) | 2 (1%) | 1 (1%) |
| Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube | 19 (7%) | 12 (8%) | 7 (5%) |
| Proxy is child of resident | 199 (68%) | 111 (70%) | 88 (66%) |
| Female proxy | 188 (65%) | 99 (63%) | 89 (67%) |
| Proxy age, mean (SD) | 60.2 (11.6) | 60.6 (11.4) | 59.8 (12.0) |
a
All values other than age and Bedford Subscale are expressed as number (percentage).
b
Managed care group is significantly different, p-value < 0.05.
c
Scores on the Test for Severe Impairment range from 0 to 24; lower scores indicate greater cognitive impairment. This outcome was dichotomized as 0 or higher than 0.
d
Scores on the Bedford Alzheimer Nursing Severity Subscale range from 7 to 28; higher scores indicate greater functional disability.