Factors associated with urgent care use
| Factor | Increased urgent care use(*) | Decreased urgent care use(†) | No association with urgent care use‡ |
| More/specific comorbidities | n=9 Albert et al23 (1999), Andreiu et al24 (2002), Grober et al25 (2012), Ng et al26 (2014), Rosenwax et al (2015), Rudolph et al28 (2010), Toscani et al29 (2015), Voss et al 10 14 (2018), Yu et al20 (2015) | n=2 Amador et al30 (2014), Sloane et al31 (2017) | |
| Having dementia (compared with people without dementia) | n=4 Husaini et al33 (2003), Yu et al20 (2015), Zhao et al32 (2008), Zhu et al34 (2015) | n=4 Albert et al23 (1999), Rosenwax et al27 (2015), Voss et al10 14 (2018), Zhao32 et al (2008) | n=2 Grober et al25 (2012), Rosenwax et al27 (2015) |
| Presence of family carer | n=4 Cogen et al 40 (1992), Ledgerd et al 38 (2016), Ng et al 26 (2014), Rosenwax et al 27 (2015) | n=6 Abrahamson et al 35 (2015), Amador et al 30 (2014), Benner et al 36 (2018), Hunter et al 62 (2017), Ledgerd et al 38 (2016), Toot et al 39 (2013) | n=1 Cogen et al 40 (1992) |
| Older age | n=5 Amador et al 30 (2014), Givens et al 43 2012, Molloy et al 44 (1991), Rosenwax et al 27 (2015), Rudolph et al 28 (2010) | n=4 (Albert et al 23 (1999), Boltz et al 46 (2018), Chang et al 47 (2015), Grober et al 25 (2012)) | |
| Behavioural Symptoms | n=5 Andrieu et al 24 (2002), Goodman et al 45 (2017), Ledgerd et al 38 (2016), Toot et al 39 (2013), Yu et al 20 (2015) | n=2 Ng et al 26 (2014), Sloane et al 31 (2017) | |
| Advance care planning | n=7 Donnelly et al 52 (2017), Gessert et al 49 (2006), Givens et al 50 (2012), Jacobsohn et al 53 (2019), Palan Lopez et al 54 (2017), Rosenwax et al 27 (2015), Sharpp et al 55 (2016). | ||
| Ethnicity | n=3 Agyemang et al 48 (2016), Gessert et al 49 (2006), Givens et al 50 (2012) | n=3 Albert et al 23 (1999), Husaini et al 33 (2003), Rudolph et al 28 (2010) | |
| High dependency on others | n=5 Andrieu et al 24 (2002), Cloutier et al 42 (2017), Ledgerd et al 38 (2016), Ng et al 26 (2014), Yu et al 20 (2015) | n=1 Grober et al 25 (2012) | |
| Geographical location of residence | n=6 Gessert et al 49 (2006), Kim et al 41 (2019), Molloy et al 44 (1991), Ng et al 26 (2014), Rosenwax et al 27 (2015), van der Steen et al 57 (2009) | ||
| Living in care facility | n=3 Kim et al 41 (2019), Rosenwax et al 27 (2015), Toscani et al 29 (2015) | n=2 (Cloutier et al 42 (2017), Toscani et al 29 (2015)) | |
| Adequate outpatient services | n=4 Jacobsohn et al 53 (2019), Ledgerd et al 38 (2016), Sadak et al 56 (2017), Toot et al 39 (2013) | ||
| Type of dementia | n=2 Chang et al 47 (2015), Rosenwax et al 27 (2015) | n=1 Chang et al 47 (2015) | |
| Gender | n=4 Givens et al 50 (2012), Kim et al 41 (2019), Rosenwax et al 27 (2015), Rudolph et al 28 (2010) | ||
| Higher levels of cognitive impairment | n=3 Albert et al 23 (1999), Molloy et al 44 (1991), Zhu et al 34 (2015) | n=1 Rudolph et al 28 (2010) | |
| Technological support at home | n=3 Carter and Porrell et al 21 (2005), Ledgerd et al 38 (2016), Toot et al 39 (2013) | ||
| Lower level of education | n=2 Albert et al 23 (1999), Andrieu et al 24 (2002) | n=1 Rudolph et al 28 (2010) | |
| Shorter duration of diagnosis | n=2 Orrell and Bebbington 51 (1995), Rudolph et al 28 (2010) | ||
| Increase in nursing home staffing | n=2 Carter and Porrell et al 21 (2005), Goodman et al 45 (2017) |
*Factors shown to increase urgent care use in one study only: low weight, life changes, more contacts with GP, humidity, ethical concerns about patient, legal concerns.
†Factors shown to prevent urgent care use in one study only: younger clinician age, Medicaid, the weekend, non profit status of care home.
‡Additional factors shown by one study to have no association with urgent care use: gender, income, marital status, proximity to emergency department.
GP, general practitioner.