Report: Increased vulnerability leads to greater use of community health services

Frailty can make people more dependent on healthcare services, and their risk of death increases, according to a new study from the Netherlands.

The report was published on Wednesday in BMC Geriatrics.

Researchers sought to better understand the use of community health services offered through the Wmo in the Netherlands. They also wanted to see whether frailty affected service use and mortality risk. Community health services may include seeing a nurse, doctor, or physical therapist, as well as home care services.

The government program provides municipal social support to people who have limitations in daily life and cannot get them out of their personal support system.

Researchers evaluated data from 181,350 people aged 65 and older using the Dutch Public Health Monitor 2016, a national survey of adult health and well-being. The team also used a vulnerability index to gauge the severity of vulnerability among participants.

The researchers took into account factors such as age, living with a partner, education level, financial status and weight. Even when this was taken into account, higher levels of frailty still led to higher use of the healthcare system.

“We have shown that higher levels of frailty are associated with greater use of services through the Social Support Act, community nursing services, medication use and a higher risk of mortality,” the authors wrote.

Strikingly, for every unit increase in the vulnerability index score, the mortality risk was 3.8 times higher, the data showed.

“Our findings also indicate that the more vulnerable a person becomes, the more likely they are to use community nursing or Social Support Act services,” the authors wrote.

The findings are consistent with similar studies in Belgium, Ireland and Australia, the authors emphasize. The results are also comparable to previous research showing that older people, women or ethnic minorities are more likely to use health care. The current study found that older people, women and those with financial difficulties were more likely to use the services.