Older adults hospitalized for extracranial hemorrhage (ECH) experienced a 15% increase in activities of daily living (ADLs) disability, 15% increase in instrumental ADLs, 8% increase in nursing home stays, and 4% increase in mortality, according to a study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Anna L. Parks, MD, and colleagues evaluated a nationally representative cohort of older adults (aged ≥66) to define the association of ECH hospitalization with functional independence and survival. Of 6,719 patients with an average follow-up of 8.3 years (55,767 person-years), 11% were hospitalized for ECH. After ECH, patients became disabled and died at the pre-ECH annual rate, but those who survived never recovered to pre-ECH levels of function. “Hospitalization for ECH was associated with significant and durable declines in independence and survival,” Dr. Parks and colleagues wrote. “Clinical and research efforts should incorporate the long-term harms of ECH into decision-making and strategies to mitigate these effects.”
