Determinants of Nursing Home Discharge and Post-Discharge Living Arrangements: Differences by Gender and Duration of Stay

Stipica Mudrazija, University of Texas at Austin
Mieke B. Thomeer, University of Texas at Austin

This study investigates how demographic, health, socioeconomic, and family characteristics are related to nursing home discharge and post-discharge living arrangements, focusing especially on gender. We use the Health and Retirement Study to estimate a competing-risks survival regression for individuals admitted to nursing homes between 2000 and 2010 (N=3,645) and a multinomial logistic regression model of post-discharge living arrangements. The results reveal that women are more likely than men to be discharged from a nursing home. Discharged women are more likely to live alone or with kin, whereas men are more likely to live with a spouse or transition to another institution. Following a long duration of nursing home stay, men are more likely than women to live alone. Our findings suggest that gender differences in nursing home care extend to nursing home discharge and post-discharge living arrangements. We discuss policy implications of these findings for the provision of transitional care.