Abstract
Background
The number of attendances to emergency department (ED) due to falls and fractures increases as the population ages. The community-based falls prevention strategy may reduce the number of falls requiring medical attention.
Aim
Our aim was to determine the changes over time in community-living older adults on the number of attendances to an urban ED over a 5 year period.
Methods
Community-living adults aged ≥65 years from a catchment attending with falls and fractures to an ED in 2010 and 2014 were identified through an electronic patient record. The age, gender and patient-related outcome (admit, discharge with and without follow-up, died in department) were collected. Patient-related outcome was compared by age group.
Results
There were 477 and 772 attendances with falls and fractures in 2010 and 2014, respectively. Between 3 and 7% were repeat attendees. Compared with 2010, in 2014, there were more women attendees; the proportion of patients aged ≥80 years were higher, more likely to be admitted and discharged without follow-up. Patients aged 85+ were six times more likely to require admission compared with under 75’s.
Conclusion
With the rapidly ageing population in North Dublin, there is an urgent need to prioritise comprehensive assessment and provide a coordinated falls programme when older adults present to ED to reduce the risk of future falls and injuries.
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Acknowledgement
We wish to acknowledge Mich Vartuli’s expertise in data extraction from the electronic patient record for the study.
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We declare that we have no (financial) conflicts of interest.
Ethical approval
Ethical approval was not obtained as the data were extracted as part of an audit from the Electronic Patient Record by Ms Mich Vartuli without any patient identifier and no patient was contacted for the purpose of the study.
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Fan, C.W., Duggan, J., Rodger, D. et al. Increased number of community-living older adults attending an emergency department with falls and fractures: North Dublin experience. Ir J Med Sci 186, 693–697 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-017-1587-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-017-1587-y