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Study reveals hidden challenge in New Zealand's elderly care

Xinhua, June 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

New Zealand has the world's highest rate of residential care of the elderly with almost half of people aged 65 or over moving into care by the time they die, according to a study out Friday.

The University of Auckland health researchers looked at rest homes, geriatric hospitals and dementia care facilities to understand the challenges of an aging population.

"We already knew that 38 percent of those aged 65-plus who die in New Zealand do so in residential care and that this is higher than any other country in the world," study leader Joanna Broad said in a statement.

"We didn't know the extent that people living in residential care die during a stay in acute hospitals, so we looked at four sources to estimate that. We found that was another 9 percent."

The total of 47 percent contrasted greatly with the estimate of 5 percent to 6 percent of people aged 65-plus living in care at any one time in New Zealand and in other countries.

"Given an ageing population and increasing longevity, we think it is important to understand this dynamic," study co-author Professor Toni Ashton said in the statement.

"Although residential aged care beds outnumber acute hospital beds by more than three times and it is well recognized that population ageing will bring major challenges, the residential aged care sector remains largely invisible, with residents not included in many population surveys and reports at a population level," Ashton said.

Alternatives were need to avert large increases in demand for residential aged care, such as initiatives to improve management of chronic diseases, to reduce falls, to provide day-care for people with dementia or other needs, and to enable shared or sheltered accommodation.

In New Zealand and many other countries, it was the norm after the age of 85 that more than 58 percent of men and 70 percent of women moved into care at some time. Endi