Twenty-one RCTs were included (14,597 participants). There was a modest and not statistically significant reduction in the risk of nursing home admission with multidimensional preventive home visit programs (OR 0.86; 95% CI, 0.68, 1.10). The 16 trials were heterogeneous. None of the study characteristics showed an association with nursing home admissions.
The intervention had little effect on functional status (OR 0.89; 95% CI: 0.76, 1.03, 16 trials; corrected data OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.01) or mortality (OR 0.92; 95% CI: 0.80, 1.05, 21 trials). The trials were heterogeneous in both analyses. Studies that included a clinical examination showed a beneficial effect on functional status (OR 0.64; 95% CI: 0.48, 0.87) but the other studies did not; there was significant heterogeneity in the former subgroup analysis. Trials with the youngest mean age group showed a beneficial effect of the intervention on mortality (OR 0.74; 95% CI: 0.58, 0.94) compared to the trials of the oldest participants. Study quality did not appear to influence the results. The authors stated that the funnel plot was symmetrical and the associated statistical tests were non significant.