How Likely Are You to End Up in a Nursing Home?

There are risk factors for admission to a nursing home, as for other ill-health mileposts. Now some Rutgers researchers have gone to the trouble of finding out which of the usual lifestyle sins are actual risk factors for early nursing home confinement. They are: smoking, inactivity, obesity, raised blood pressure, and diabetes. Raised total cholesterol was, surprisingly, not on the list.

In the ‘younger’ group at baseline – 45 to 64 years – diabetes almost tripled the likelihood of eventual nursing home admission. Obesity was a risk factor for the older set – 65 to 74 years – but not for the younger age groups.

The findings aren’t particularly surprising, but they may serve to remind us that an intemperate lifestyle doesn’t just mean an earlier death – it can also mean earlier captivity. And, as we know, nobody wants to be in a nursing home.