Emergency department use and length of stay by younger and older adults: Nottingham cohort study in the emergency department (NOCED).
Aging Clin Exp Res
; 34(11): 2873-2885, 2022 Nov.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36074240
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Younger and older adults attending the Emergency Department (ED) are a heterogeneous population. Longer length of ED stay is associated with adverse outcomes and may vary by age.AIMS:
To evaluate the associations between age and (1) clinical characteristics and (2) length of ED stay among adults attending ED.METHODS:
The NOttingham Cohort study in the Emergency Department (NOCED)-a retrospective cohort study-comprises new consecutive ED attendances by adults ≥ 18 years, at a secondary/tertiary care hospital, in 2019. Length of ED stay was dichotomised as < 4 and ≥ 4 h. The associations between age and length of ED stay were analysed by binary logistic regression and adjusted for socio-demographic and clinical factors including triage acuity.RESULTS:
146,636 attendances were analysed; 75,636 (51.6%) resulted in a length of ED stay ≥ 4 h. Attendances of adults aged 65 to 74 years, 75 to 84 years and ≥ 85 years, respectively, had an increased risk (odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of length of ED stay ≥ 4 h of 1.52 (1.45-1.58), 1.65 (1.58-1.72), and 1.84 (1.75-1.93), compared to those of adults 18 to 64 years (all p < 0.001). These findings remained consistent in the subsets of attendances leading to hospital admission and those leading to discharge from ED. DISCUSSION ANDCONCLUSION:
In this real-world cohort study, older adults were more likely to have a length of ED stay ≥ 4 h, with the oldest old having the highest risk. ED target times should take into account age of attendees.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Triage
/
Emergency Service, Hospital
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Incidence_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Aging Clin Exp Res
Journal subject:
GERIATRIA
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United kingdom