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PAPER | Trajectories of Disability and Long-Term Care Utilization After Acute Health Events
News | 04 February 2025 PAPER | Trajectories of Disability and Long-Term Care Utilization After Acute Health Events

📢 NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!

Our talented Alumni students and Nova SBE Health Economics & Management Knowledge Center members, Judite Gonçalves and Luís Filipe, along with their co-author Courtney Van Houtven, explore the long-term impact of acute health events—such as hip fractures, strokes, and heart attacks—on disability, care utilization, and unmet needs.

✍️ Authors: Judite Gonçalves, Luís Filipe, and Courtney H. Van Houtven

This study, published in Journal of Aging & Social Policy, analyzes data from the Health and Retirement Study (1992–2018) and finds:

✔️ Acute health shocks lead to severe long-term disability, with no recovery or convergence over time
✔️ Stroke and heart attack survivors rely mostly on informal caregivers, while hip fracture patients are more likely to need nursing home care
✔️ Unmet care needs persist, even pre-shock and among those who do not experience health shocks, reinforcing the need for preventive care

These findings emphasize the importance of post-acute rehabilitative services and stronger policies to address long-term care needs, particularly for individuals aged 50+.

🔗 Read the full paper here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08959420.2023.2267399

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