# Prolonged Hospitalisations in People With Dementia and Comorbid Mental and Behavioural Disorders—A Data Linkage Study

## TL;DR

This study finds that prolonged hospital stays in dementia patients with behavioral issues are less common but more linked to mental health problems and occur more in younger males.

## Contribution

The study identifies distinct characteristics of dementia patients with prolonged hospital stays due to behavioral symptoms versus those without.

## Key findings

- BRLS patients were younger by 5.96 years and more likely to be male compared to NBRLS patients.
- BRLS occurred mostly in non-psychiatric hospitals and were more associated with mental health comorbidities.
- BRLS were less common than NBRLS, with 120 BRLS versus 7523 NBRLS observed in the study period.

## Abstract

To estimate the prevalence of extreme behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in hospitalised patients in comparison with people with dementia with a long hospital stay but no mental health and behavioural problems related to dementia.

Retrospective analysis using the Admitted Patient Data Collection for people aged ≥ 50 with a diagnosis of dementia who had a long stay (defined as ≥ 42 days) in a public hospital between January 2015 and December 2019.

New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

People with dementia aged ≥ 50 years with long stays in NSW hospitals.

Characteristics of behaviour‐related long stays (BRLS) and non‐behaviour‐related long stays (NBRLS) cohorts were compared using Welch's t‐test and Fisher's exact test.

There were 115 people with dementia who had 120 BRLS (range 42–2043 days, median 86 days, IQR 53–151 days) and 6186 people with dementia who had 7523 NBRLS (range 42–5750 days, median 61 days, IQR 49–84 days). Those in the BRLS cohort were younger by a mean of 5.96 years (p < 0.001; Welch's t‐test, 95% CI 4.18–7.74) and more likely to be men (0.0062, p < 0.001, Fisher's exact test). BRLS occurred predominantly in non‐psychiatric public hospitals (92.4%). People with BRLS were more likely to have mental health comorbidities (n = 65, 56.5%) than people with NBRLS (2011, 32.7%).

BRLS in people with dementia are less common than NBRLS and are more likely to occur in the context of mental health comorbidities and in younger males.