Continuity of care and hospitalization frequency for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions after hearing-disability onset: a retrospective cohort study.

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101563288 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2045-2322 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20452322 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Sci Rep Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : Nature Publishing Group, copyright 2011-

Hospitalization*/statistics & numerical data ; Continuity of Patient Care*/statistics & numerical data ; Ambulatory Care*/statistics & numerical data; Humans ; Female ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Aged ; Hearing Loss/epidemiology ; Hearing Loss/therapy ; Young Adult ; Adolescent

We assessed the effect of continuity of care (COC) on the frequency of hospitalization for Ambulatory care-sensitive conditions (ACSCs) to estimate the impact of COC and hearing disability relative to the controls. This retrospective cohort study used claim data of Korean National Health Insurance Service - National Sample Cohort 2.0 DB. We used propensity score matching to determine a control group for the hearing disability group by age, sex, and the Charlson Comorbidity Index. The hearing-impaired group included 720 participants, and the non-disabled control group, consisting of individuals without any form of disability, had 1,423 individuals. We used the frequency of hospitalization for ACSCs during one-year follow-up as the dependent variable for Poisson regression. We measured COC with the Bice-Boxerman Continuity of Care Index (COCI); higher COCI values represent better continuity of care, with COCI values ranging from 0 to 1. Poisson regression showed that disability status modifies the effect of COCI on the incidence of hospitalization. COCI = 1 reduced hospitalizations in people with hearing disabilities (adjusted Incidence Rate Ratio [aIRR]: 0.30, 95% CI: 0.20-0.44) but was not statistically significant for controls. In the COCI = 1 group, the effect of disability was not significant(aIRR: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.83-1.44). Compared to people without disabilities, enhanced COC for people with hearing disabilities was more effective in preventing hospitalizations for ACSCs.
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2022R1A2B5B0100125311 National Research Foundation of Korea

Keywords: Ambulatory care-sensitive conditions; Continuity of care; Hearing disability; Hospitalization frequency

Date Created: 20241006 Date Completed: 20241006 Latest Revision: 20241010

20241011

PMC11456612

10.1038/s41598-024-74470-w

39370442