Preventive Home Visits for Older People: The Effect of Continuity on Mobility, Nursing Home Admission and Mortality

Aim To investigate how preventive home visits, and return visits by the same healthcare worker, were associated with mobility, nursing home admission, and mortality among older adults. Design Observational cohort study. Methods Self‐report of preventive home visits and mobility. Nursing home admission and mortality were register‐based. Multivariable logistic regression models with generalized estimating equations. Data Sources The Danish Intervention Study on Preventive Home Visits. Results About half received one or more preventive home visits. The majority had return visits from the same healthcare worker. There were no significant associations between number of visits and return visits, and nursing home admission and mortality, respectively. Compared to receiving multiple preventive home visits by different healthcare workers, receiving no visits was significantly associated with lower odds of mobility limitations. A tendency to better mobility was observed when receiving return visits by the same healthcare worker, but statistically insignificant. Conclusion While a continuous relation to the healthcare worker did not show a significant advantage over intermittent relation, the other results are consistent with healthy user‐bias, suggesting that pre‐existing health drives the observed pattern of receiving preventive home visits. Implications for the Profession and Patient Care A continuous relation to the healthcare worker may potentially benefit those at risk of functional limitations. Impact Heterogeneous findings in previous studies may stem from variations in frequency and content of visits, which are rarely studied. Multi‐disciplinary studies on organization, frequency, and evaluation of preventive home visits are needed. Reporting Method This study was reported in accordance with STROBE guidelines for cohort studies. Patient of Public Contribution No patient of public contribution.