Living Alone and Outpatient Care Use by Older Veterans

• Published in: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) Vol. 52; no. 4; pp. 617 - 622
• Main Authors: Guzman, Jenice S., Sohn, Linda, Harada, Nancy D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Inc 01.04.2004; Blackwell; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Aged - psychology; Aged - statistics & numerical data; Ambulatory Care - utilization; Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; Causality; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Drug Prescriptions - statistics & numerical data; elderly; Elderly people; Emergency Service, Hospital - utilization; Geriatric Assessment; Geriatrics; Gerontology; Health Behavior; Health care; Health Care Surveys; Health Services Research; Health services utilization; Humans; Living alone; Male; Medical sciences; Models, Psychological; Neurology; Older people; outpatient; Outpatient care facilities; Outpatient treatment; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - psychology; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Poisson Distribution; Predictive Value of Tests; Regression Analysis; Residence Characteristics - statistics & numerical data; Risk factors; Socioeconomic Factors; United States; USA; Users; Veterans; Veterans - psychology; Veterans - statistics & numerical data; United States; Human; Use; Ambulatory; Veteran; Elderly; Care; Geriatrics

In nonveteran older adults, living alone influences outpatient care use, but its importance in the veteran population has not been well studied. The aims of this study are to describe the use of outpatient care by older veterans who live alone versus those who live with others and determine whether...