Increased Mortality Among Older Veterans Admitted to VA Homelessness Programs
Increased Mortality Among Older Veterans Admitted to VA Homelessness Programs
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DOI:
10.1176/appi.ps.201500095
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发表时间:
2016-04-01
影响因子:
3.8
通讯作者:
Casey, Roger J.
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
Schinka, John A.;Bossarte, Robert M.;Casey, Roger J.
Objective: National Death Index data were examined to describe mortality patterns among older veterans who are homeless.Methods: Homelessness and health care records from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs were used to identify old (ages 55-59) and older (ages >= 60) veterans who were (N = 4,475) or were not (N = 20,071) homeless. Survival functions and causes of death of the two samples over an 11-year follow-up period were compared.Results: Substantially more veterans who were homeless (34.9%) died compared with the control sample (18.2%). Veterans who were homeless were approximately 2.5 years younger at time of death compared with the control sample. Older veterans who were homeless had the lowest survival rate (58%). No disease category appeared to be critical in reducing survival time. Suicide was twice as frequent in the homeless (.4%) versus the control (.2%) sample.Conclusions: Older veterans who were homeless experienced excess mortality and increased suicide risk.