Abstract
This longitudinal study describes the urban population of chronic patients treated at home and analyzes survival rates of the first 10 years (1992 to 2002) of a primary health care team. Participants included all of the 1,357 home care chronically ill patients registered since the beginning of a home care program (May 1994 to December 2002). The average age was 82 years, 68% were female, 76% lacked elevators, 18% cited loneliness, 11% were totally dependent, and 20% suffered severe cognitive alterations. Cox’s proportional risk method and survival probability curves by the Kaplan-Meier method were used. Factors linked to lower survival (p < .001) included being male (relative risk, RR = 1.67), existence of terminally ill patients because of neoplastic pathologies (RR = 7.72), living accompanied by other people (RR = 2.39), deteriorated cognitive function status (slight moderate, RR = 1.74; severe, RR = 2.71), and worsening degree of autonomy (partially dependent, RR = 1.63; totally dependent, RR = 3.54).
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