Benjenk et al identified factors affecting an older adult's adherence with discharge instructions following a visit to an Emergency Department. The authors are from multiple institutions in the United States.
Patient: age >= 60 years, discharged from the Emergency Department
Endpoints (and compliance in the study participants):
(1) medication adherence (35%)
(2) follow-up visit adherence (76%)
(3) ability to recognize signs of worsening health status ("red flags"; 35%)
Risk factors for nonadherence with medications: none found significant
Risk factors for nonadherence with follow-up instructions:
(1) self-rated health status fair to poor
Risk factors for being unable to recall signs of worsening health status:
(1) older age (73.6 +/- 9.8 vs 70.7 +/- 7.5)
(2) depression
(3) any functional limitations
General conclusions:
(1) adherence with instructions was suboptimal
(2) there is no clear-cut high-risk group
(3) better to reinforce instructions with all older adults
