Hospitalizations increasing among Parkinson’s patients in Ireland

People with Parkinson's disease are increasingly admitted to the hospital for serious but preventable conditions–and require long-term care at a nursing home.

The study, published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, called for interventions to prevent or treat conditions earlier to help keep people safe in their homes for longer.

“On a positive note, a lot of the causes of admission to hospital in PD in Ireland are preventable. Currently care delivered is disjointed and it is this fragmented approach that allows individuals to become seriously ill and require hospital admission. Integrated care pathways for community-dwelling adults with chronic neurological diseases, not just PD, should form the bedrock for health and wellness in this population going forward,” Catherine Blake, PhD, co-investigator and researcher at University College Dublin, said in a press release.

Researchers used data from the Hospital Inpatient Enquiry (HIPE) from 2009 and 2012 and analyzed discharge records of more than 13,600 patients with Parkinson's. They found the top five reasons for admission were:

• urinary tract infection,
• pneumonia,
• lower respiratory tract infections,
• aspiration pneumonia and
• femur fracture.

Eighty-seven percent of admits went directly to the emergency department and steadily rose among those age 65 and older. Those seniors with Parkinson's were more than twice as likely to be discharged to a nursing home, 27 percent compared to 12 percent of their age peers overall.

Nicole Stempak

Nicole was Senior Editor at I Advance Senior Care and Long Term Living Magazine 2015-2017. She has a Journalism degree from Kent State University and is finalizing a master’s degree in Information Architecture and Management. She has extensive studies in the digital user experience and in branding online media. She has worked as an editor and writer for various B2B publications, including Business Finance.