Toward an Understanding of Geriatric Relocation

Abstract

Reviews by Borup et al. (1979) and Coffman (1981) show that the death rates of relocated elderly patients do not usually rise and are not a simple function of supposedly critical factors such as age, sex, preparation, or choice. Horowitz and Schulz's (1983) criticisms of these reviews and of the Utah study are mistaken or irrelevant to the contested conclusions, which are compelled by the existing evidence, although the critics are correct in suggesting that additional evidence on relocation effects and their parameters is needed.