Association between dementia care programs in assisted living facilities and transitions to nursing homes in Ontario, Canada: a population-based cohort study

Objective — We investigate whether older adults who were newly diagnosed with dementia (severity unspecified) and resided in an assisted living facility that offered a dementia care program had a lower rate of transition to a nursing home, compared to those who resided in an assisted living facility without such a program.

Design — Population-based retrospective cohort study.

Setting and Participants — Linked, person-level health system administrative data on older adults who were newly diagnosed with dementia and resided in an assisted living facility in Ontario, Canada, from 2014 to 2019 (n = 977).

Methods — Access to a dementia care program in an assisted living facility (n = 57) was examined. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression with robust standard errors clustered on the assisted living facility was used to model the time to transition to a nursing home from the new dementia diagnosis.

Results — There were 11.8 transitions to a nursing home per 100 person-years among older adults who resided in an assisted living facility with a dementia care program, compared with 20.5 transitions to a nursing home per 100 person-years among older adults who resided in an assisted living facility without a dementia care program. After adjustment for relevant characteristics at baseline, older adults who resided in an assisted living facility with a dementia care program had a 40% lower rate of transition to a nursing home (hazard ratio 0.60, 95% confidence interval 0.44, 0.81), compared with those in an assisted living facility without such a program at any point during the follow-up period.

Conclusions and Implications — The rate of transition to a nursing home was significantly lower among older adults who resided in an assisted living facility that offered a dementia care program. These findings support the expansion of dementia care programs in assisted living facilities.