Predictors of nursing home placement in African Americans with dementia

The objective of the present study was to identify predictors of institutionalization in African Americans who suffer from dementia. Data were derived from the Medicare Alzheimer's Disease Demonstration Evaluation (MADDE), which collected information on Alzheimer's patients and their family caregivers over a 3-year period. The baseline MADDE sample included 667 older African Americans suffering from dementia recruited from eight catchment areas in the United States. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to create a predictive model of institutionalization. Subsequent analyses found that care recipient age, sex, Medicaid eligibility, and cognitive impairment; site; and caregiving burden were significant predictors of time to placement. The results, among the first to examine predictors of nursing home placement of cognitively impaired African Americans, emphasize the clinical implications and complex interplay of race, dementia, and caregiving context in the institutionalization process.