Characteristics of applicants with first-time determination of need for long-term care-Anationwide analysis of care assessments of applicants insured with the AOK aged60 years and above

Abstract

The increasing number of care-dependent individuals requires approaches to prevent care dependency or reduce the loss of independence. Long-term care assessments can provide valuable insights into this. The aim of this article is to describe initial applicants with an identified need for long-term care as well as to provide adifferentiated analysis of care-related diagnoses by age, gender, care level and federal state. The nationwide database consists of long-term care assessments conducted by the Medical Service (MD) of individuals insured with the AOK aged60 years and above who received acare level (PG) for the first time in 2021. Information relevant to long-term care was analyzed descriptively. In this study 339,486 individuals with an average age of 79.6 years (±8.4 years) and afemale proportion of 59.0% were analyzed. Approximately one half received care level2 and 32.4% received care level1. Care levels 3-5 were assessed less frequently (16.2% vs.4.8% vs.1.7%, respectively). Individuals living alone were represented more strongly in lower care levels, while individuals not living alone had ahigher proportion in care levels 3-5. The most frequent care-relevant diagnoses were senility (R54), polyarthritis (M15) and dementia (F03) with significant differences observed between federal states (ICD-10 R chapter: 0.8% Berlin and Brandenburg vs.37.9% Saxony; M chapter: 13.6% Bavaria and Hamburg vs.39.9% Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). Social determinants, such as age, gender, living alone, and region can play arole in the classification into acare level. Significant differences in care-related diagnoses between federal states warrant further investigation in future research.