Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2018 , Vol 21, Issue 4
EVALUATION OF ADMISSION CAUSES AND MORTALITY RATES OF 65 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER PATIENTS ADMITTED FROM THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT TO THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
Arzu KARAVELİ1, Galip Neşet CERİT1, Erhan ÖZYURT1
1University of Health Sciences, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Antalya, Turkey DOI : 10.31086/tjgeri.2018.56 Introduction: With increasing life expectancy, admission of elderly patients to intensive care units is increasing. We aimed to determine profiles, admission causes and mortality rates of elderly patients who were admitted from the emergency department to the intensive care unit. Because the cost of intensive care hospitalisation is high, this data may be important when determining elderly patients health policies.

Materials and Method: This retrospective study included elderly patients who were admitted from the emergency department to the intensive care unit. The patients" age, sex, chronic illnesses, date of admission, admission causes and mortality rates were recorded.

Results: The mean age of the elderly patients was 76.19 years, 53.4% of the patients were males, and 70.3% of the total patients had ?1 chronic diseases. The most frequent chronic disease was hypertension. The most common cause of admission was cardiovascular disease. The frequency of myocardial infarction was equally high in male and female patients. They were mostly admitted to the coronary intensive care unit. Intensive care unit admissions were mostly noted during winter. The mortality rate was 14.75%.

Conclusion: With the increasing population of elderly people because of increased life expectancy, the admission of elderly patients to the intensive care units is gradually increasing. The intensive care unit hospitalisation cost and mortality rate of elderly patients" is high. Taking all of this into account, identifying admission causes and mortality rates of elderly patients will provide guidance for the approach used for their diagnosis and treatment and for determining medical policies. Keywords : Aged; Patient; Intensive care unit; Mortality; Emergency department