Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Older men who experience a stroke are much less likely to recover without the aid of a full-time caregiver compared to women, according to a new study.
Researchers from the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham analyzed 10 years of data from Medicare claims from 2003 to 2013 and interviews from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study conducted from 2003 to 2007 to determine that men are at a greater risk of needing nursing home care after a stroke if they did not have a caregiver available.
The study, published in the October edition of the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, of 256 men and 304 women aged 65 and older who had experienced a stroke found that within five years of the stroke, 119 participants were placed in nursing homes.
Researchers found that the risk of nursing home placement was higher in patients who lacked available caregivers at home. Lacking an available caregiver after a stroke increased the risk of nursing home placement by 70 percent, within five years by 68 percent and was limited to men only.
"Our research highlights older adults as being vulnerable to the loss of independent living if they cannot identify anyone to care for them," Dr. Justin Blackburn, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said in a news release. "This is particularly true for older men, who may be unable to access or reluctant to use formal services delivered within their home or community."
