Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2015 , Vol 18, Issue 4
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GERIATRIC PATIENTS IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS: RESULTS OF A MULTICENTER STUDY
Mehmet ERGİN1, Mehmet Akif KARAMERCAN2, Mehmet AYRANCI3, Yücel YAVUZ4, Özcan YAVAŞİ5, Mustafa SERİNKEN6, Tarık ACAR7, Mücahit AVCİL8, Behçet AL9, Atıf BAYRAMOĞLU10, Hasan Mansur DURGUN11, Yalçın GÖLCÜK12, İbrahim ARZIMAN13, Zerrin Defne DÜNDAR1
1 Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Faculty of Medicine, Emergency Medicine Department, KONYA
2 Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Emergency Medicine Department, ANKARA
3 Göztepe Training and Research Hospital, Emergency Medicine Clinic, İSTANBUL
4 Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Medicine Emergency Medicine Department, SAMSUN
5 Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan University Training and Research Hospital, Emergency Medicine Department, RÄ°ZE
6 Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine, Emergency Medicine Department, DENÄ°ZLÄ°
7 Ordu University Training and Research Hospital Emergency Medicine Department, ORDU
8 Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine Emergency Medicine Department, AYDIN
9 Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine, Emergency Medicine Department, GAZÄ°ANTEP
10 Atatürk University Faculty of Medicine, Emergency Medicine Department, ERZURUM
11 Dicle University Faculty of Medicine, Emergency Medicine Department, DÄ°YARBAKIR
12 Celal Bayar University Faculty of Medicine, Emergency Medicine Department, MANÄ°SA
13 Gülhane Military Academy of Medicine, Emergency Medicine Department, ANKARA
Introduction: The increasing proportion of elderly individuals in the population due to increased life expectancy has necessitated greater provision of health care. Here we aimed to determine patient characteristics, reasons for referral, and outcomes of emergency department visits and hospitalization in patients aged ?65 years with referrals to emergency departments.

Materials and Method: This prospective, multicenter observational study was conducted over one week at the emergency departments of 13 Turkey hospitals. All patients aged ?65 years who were referred to emergency departments with acute medical or surgical issues during the study period were included. Patients aged <65 years or those referred for trauma were excluded.

Results: In total, 1299 patients with a mean age of 74.8±7.3 years were included. Of these 51.9% (n=674) were aged 65–74 years, 67.5% (n=877) were discharged from the hospital and 5.8% (n=75) died during admission. The most frequently diagnosed disorders in the emergency departments were cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and pulmonary diseases. A significant difference in age was observed between the survival and non-survival groups (p=0.001), with no significant differences in gender distribution (p=0.259), length of stay in intensive care units (p=0.605), or length of stay in hospital (p=0.055).

Conclusion: With an increased proportion of elderly individuals in the general population the number of elderly patients referred to emergency departments continues to increase. This study presents the demographic features and clinical course of elderly patients referred to study centers. Keywords : Elderly; Geriatric Assessment; Demography; Emergency Treatment