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Does availability of informal care within the household impact hospitalisation?

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  • Weaver, France M.
  • Weaver, Bryce A.

Abstract

This study assesses the effect of having informal support available at home on inpatient care use in Switzerland. The main contributions are to consider the availability of care regardless of its source, measured by multiple-adult living arrangements, and to examine this effect by type of inpatient care and source of potential support. A two-part model with region and time fixed effects is estimated to determine the impact of informal care availability on the likelihood of hospitalisation and length of stay, conditional on hospitalisation. The analysis is conducted on a sample of individuals aged 18+ from four waves of the Swiss Household Panel survey (2004–2007). Overall, availability of informal care has no impact on the likelihood of hospitalisation but does significantly reduce length of stay by 1.9 days. Available support has no effect on the shortest stays (up to 10 days), but has a significant impact on acute care stays up to 30 days and longer stays. Additionally, the effect does not significantly vary whether the source of informal support is a spouse only, a spouse and other adults, or other adults only. These results indicate that social changes leading to an expansion in the proportion of one-person households may increase future inpatient care use.

Suggested Citation

  • Weaver, France M. & Weaver, Bryce A., 2014. "Does availability of informal care within the household impact hospitalisation?," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(1), pages 71-93, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:hecopl:v:9:y:2014:i:01:p:71-93_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Iegor Rudnytskyi & Joël Wagner, 2019. "Drivers of Old-Age Dependence and Long-Term Care Usage in Switzerland—A Structural Equation Model Approach," Risks, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Torbica, Aleksandra & Calciolari, Stefano & Fattore, Giovanni, 2015. "Does informal care impact utilization of healthcare services? Evidence from a longitudinal study of stroke patients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 29-38.
    3. Joan Costa-Font & Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto, 2023. "‘Investing’ in care for old age? An examination of long-term care expenditure dynamics and its spillovers," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 1-30, January.
    4. Wang, Yixiao & Yang, Wei & Avendano, Mauricio, 2022. "Does informal care reduce health care utilisation in older age? Evidence from China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    5. Judite Gonçalves & France Weaver, 2017. "Effects of formal home care on hospitalizations and doctor visits," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 203-233, June.
    6. Calciolari, Stefano & Luini, Cecilia, 2023. "Effects of the bio-psycho-social frailty dimensions on healthcare utilisation among elderly in Europe: A cross-country longitudinal analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    7. Costa-Font, Joan & Jimenez-Martin, Sergi & Vilaplana, Cristina, 2018. "Does long-term care subsidization reduce hospital admissions and utilization?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 43-66.
    8. John Rodwell, 2022. "Cumulative Health Drivers of Overnight Hospitalization for Australian Working-Age Adults Living Alone: The Early Warning Potential of Functionality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-11, November.
    9. Chunzhou Mu & Jane Hall, 2023. "Marital status and hospital use in older adults," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 185-213, June.
    10. Chunzhou Mu & Milica Kecmanovic & Jane Hall, 2015. "Does Living Alone Confer a Higher Risk of Hospitalisation?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 91(S1), pages 124-138, June.
    11. John Rodwell, 2022. "Health Need Factors Are the Key Drivers of Hospitalization among the Elderly Living Alone: An Analysis of Longitudinal Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-12, November.
    12. Zheng-Dong Li & Bei Zhang, 2023. "Family-friendly policy evolution: a bibliometric study," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Lemmon, Elizabeth, 2020. "Utilisation of personal care services in Scotland: the influence of unpaid carers," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106226, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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