King's College London

To determine the relative individual, illness-related, and environmental factors associated with burdensome transitions for people with dementia in their last year of life, to inform effective public health policies to improve care towards the end of life for this growing population. 

We will use data that has already been collected as part of hospital and administrative systems to explore the factors associated with burdensome transitions for people with dementia in the last months of life. These factors will be classified according to whether they are related to the individual themselves (e.g. age, ethnicity), to the illness (e.g. mental function, physical function), or to the environment (e.g. local services available). We will use statistical techniques to understand the relative importance of these factors and build a model of how they interact. The results will be used to inform health policies, in order to reduce burdensome transitions for people with dementia close to the end of life.