Effectiveness of a health and social care integration programme for home-dwelling frail older persons in Argentina

Introduction: The evidence of effectiveness of integrated care initiatives for home-dwelling frail older persons is still inconclusive. There is a need for more studies, especially in developing countries. Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of a health and social care integration programme versus the best standard of care to date in this population. Methods: Quasi-experimental study performed in patients' homes in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The intervention arm had a health and social care counsellor that systematically reviewed the social and biological situation following a structured process, evaluating: functionality, nutrition, mobility, pain, cognition, medication reconciliation and adherence, need for care, quality of care, and environmental safety. The control group received the best standard of care to date, with access to the same health or social care services, but without the counsellor and related processes. The main outcome was the adjusted hazard ratio for hospitalizations after one year using a Cox-proportional hazards model. Results: We recruited 121 persons in each group. The crude hazard ratio for hospital admissions, comparing the intervention to the control group was 0.622 (95% CI: 0.427-0.904; p=0.013). The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) was 0.503 (95% CI: 0.340-0.746; p=0.001). The aHR for death was 0.993 (95% CI: 0.492-2.002; p=0.984). The absolute difference in the quality of life was 16.59 points (95% CI: 12.03-21.14; p < 0.001). Discussion: The integration programme had lower hospital admissions and better quality of life than the usual care. There was no significant difference in death rates.