After being released from a hospital intensive care unit, low-income 65-and-older adults face a starkly higher risk of developing new physical and cognitive problems than other patients their age who are better off financially, according to a study appearing in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The study, led by researchers at Yale University’s School of Medicine, found that in the six months after being discharged from the ICU, those poor enough to be eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare were nearly 10 times more likely to suffer serious cognitive decline than patients with higher incomes who qualified only for Medicare.
Study coauthor Lauren Ferrante, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, called the finding — based on an analysis of data gathered from older ICU patients from 2011 to 2017 — a “shocking effect” of income disparities.
“This is problematic in an older adult, because our cognitive function is so much of what helps someone remain independent in his or her daily life,” Ferrante said.
