A recent study suggests that individuals who have a dementia diagnosis are hospitalized at a rate of 86% compared to 59% for individuals who do not have that diagnosis. Since dementia reduces the ability of an individual to care for themselves, having the disease appears to increase the risk of hospitalization. This study provides a starting point to determine what factors could be modified so that individuals with dementia are not hospitalized at such a significant rate.

We can all agree that the hospital is a very difficult place to be at the best of times and for an individual suffering from dementia it can be incredibly distressing. Finding ways to reduce hospitalizations for dementia sufferers is an important impetus to be gained from this study.