Presenting symptoms of older emergency department patients: a single-center experience of 10,692 patients in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Objective: In this study, we aimed: (1) to evaluate the presenting symptoms of older emergency department (ED) patients within a 12-month period, (2) to compare the differences in presenting symptoms between three age groups, and (3) to evaluate the seasonal variations in the presenting symptoms.

Methods: This retrospective single-centered observational study was conducted at the ED of a university hospital in older ED patients with yellow and red triage code. Consecutive patients aged 65 and older admitted to ED in the study period were included in the study.

Results: In our study, 14.0% of all ED admissions were patients aged 65 and older. The mean age of 10,692 patients was 75.3 ± 7.3 years, and 49.2% of them were male. The most common presenting symptoms to ED were dyspnea (18.5%), abdominal pain (12.4%), and chest pain (8.3%). Whereas 6,352 (59.4%) patients had been discharged from the ED (to home), 4,305 (40.3%) were hospitalized. Falls became the third rank presenting symptom in patients aged 85 and older. The hospital admission rate increased from 35% to 53% by age, and the in-hospital mortality rate of patients aged 85 and older was higher than that of the other age groups (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: ED physicians should be aware of the common medical problems and life-threatening conditions of older patients. Morbidity and mortality rates increase by age and those patients may need different management strategies and an increased number of resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Symptom
• complaint
• older patients
• emergency department
• presentation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.