WASHINGTON, July 21 (UPI) -- The number of residents at U.S. nursing homes who were kept physically restrained dropped by more than half from 1999 to 2007, federal health officials found.
A report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, said the percentage of nursing home residents who were kept physically restrained -- using belts, vest and wrist ties or bands, or special chairs or bedside rails to keep residents seated or in bed -- declined from 11 percent in 1999 to 5 percent in 2007.
The report also said:
-- The percentage of Asian/Pacific Island and Hispanic residents who were restrained physically declined from nearly 16 percent in 1999 to 7 percent in 2007.
-- Black residents were the least likely to be physically restrained in both 1999 at 10 percent and 4 percent in 2007.
-- Use of physical restraints among American Indian/Alaska Native and white residents declined by roughly half, from about 10 percent to 6 percent, and from just over 10 percent to 5 percent, respectively.
