Health care for older people in Italy: The ULISSE project (Un Link Informatico sui Servizi Sanitari Esistenti per l'anziano - a computerized network on health care services for older people)

The U.L.I.S.S.E. study is aimed at describing older patients who are cared for in hospitals, home care or nursing homes in Italy. The U.L.I.S.S.E. study is an observational multicenter prospective 1-year study. Overall, 23 acute geriatric or internal medicine hospital units, 11 home care services and 31 nursing homes participated in the study. The patient's evaluation was performed using comprehensive geriatric assessment instruments, i.e. the interRAI Minimum Data Set, while data on service characteristics were recorded using ad-hoc designed questionnaires. The older subjects who are in need of acute and long term care in Italy have similar characteristics: their mean age is higher than 80 years, they have a high level of disability in ADL, an important multimorbidity, and are treated with several drugs. The prevalence of cognitive impairment is particularly high in nursing homes, where almost 70% of residents suffer from it and 40% have severe cognitive impairment. On the other hand, there is a shortage of health care services, which are heterogeneous and fragmented. Health care services for older people in Italy are currently inadequate to manage the complexity of the older patients. An important effort should be undertaken to create a more integrated health care system.