Aging in Hong Kong: The Institutional Population

Objectives: The Hong Kong population is aging rapidly, such that there are concerns about residential care adequacy in terms of number of places as well as quality of care. Design: A total of 1820 residents living in a representative sample of residential care facilities were surveyed. Results: The survey showed a substantial proportion with cognitive dysfunction, mood problems, communication and vision problems, chronic disabling diseases, impairment in activities of daily living, and undernutrition. Programs of activities and rehabilitation were generally unavailable. Those in for-profit facilities had a worse profile. An approximate estimation of numbers of staff required based on case mix revealed considerable understaffing among the for-profit facilities. Conclusions: issues of quality of care would be all the more important with anticipated future increase in the institutional population of older people. (J Am Med Dir Assoc 2009; 10: 478-485)