• Melissa Willoughby, Chebi Kipsaina, Noha Ferrah, Lyndal Bugeja, Margaret Winbolt, and Joseph Elias Ibrahim.
• Health Law and Ageing Research Unit, Department of Forensic Medicine, Monash University, 65 Kavanagh Street, Southbank, Victoria 3006, Australia.
• Age Ageing. 2018 Mar 1; 47 (2): 226-233.

Backgroundthe demand for residential respite care for older persons is high yet little is known about the occurrence of harm, including death in this care setting.Objectiveto compare the prevalence and nature of deaths among residential respite to permanent nursing home residents.Designretrospective cohort study.Settingaustralian accredited nursing homes between 1 July 2000 and 30 June 2013.Subjectsrespite and permanent residents of Australian accredited nursing homes, whose deaths were investigated by Australian coroners.Methodsprevalence of deaths of nursing home residents were calculated using routinely generated coronial data stored in the National Coronial Information System. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated to examine residency (respite or permanent) by cause of death.Resultsof the 21,672 residents who died during the study period, 172 (0.8%) were in respite care. The majority of deaths were due to natural causes. A lower proportion occurred in respite (n = 119, 69.2%) than permanent (n = 18,264, 84.9%) residents. Falls-related deaths in respite as a proportion (n = 41, 23.8%) was almost double that in permanent care (n = 2,638, 12.3%). Deaths from other injury-related causes (such as suicide and choking) were significantly more likely in respite residents (OR = 2.0; 95% confidence interval: 1.1-3.6; P = 0.026).Conclusionsthis is the first national cohort study examining mortality among respite residents. It established that premature, injury-related deaths do occur during respite care. This is the first step towards better understanding and reducing the risk of harm in respite care.© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

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