Strange G R, Chen E H, Sanders A B
Program in Emergency Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago.
Ann Emerg Med. 1992 Jul;21(7):819-24. doi: 10.1016/s0196-0644(05)81028-5.
To assess the use of emergency medical care by the elderly in the United States, including emergency department visits, level of ED care required, ambulance services, and hospital admission rate.
A multicenter computerized data base of 70 hospitals in 25 states.
A retrospective review of elderly patients seeking ED care and comparison of elderly and nonelderly patients. The data were then used to estimate the use of emergency medical services nationally.
Fifteen percent of the 1,193,743 ED visits were made by patients 65 years or older. Thirty-two percent of elderly patients seen in EDs were admitted to the hospital, compared with 7.5% of nonelderly patients. Seven percent of elderly patients were admitted to ICUs, compared with 1% of nonelderly patients. Thirty percent of elderly patients seeking emergency care used ambulance transports compared with 8% of nonelderly. It is estimated that 13,693,400 elderly patients were seen in EDs in 1990, with more than 4 million patients admitted to hospitals. Compared with the nonelderly, the elderly are 4.4 times more likely to use ambulance transport, 5.6 times more likely to be admitted to the hospital, 5.5 times more likely to be admitted to an intensive care bed, and 6.1 times more likely to be classified as a comprehensive ED level of service. In our sample, 36% of all patients arriving by ambulance to the ED, 43% of all ED admissions, and 48% of all intensive care admissions were geriatric patients.
With the rapid growth of the size of the elderly population, it is important that we assess the emergency medical resources needed to care for the geriatric population.
评估美国老年人对急诊医疗服务的使用情况，包括急诊就诊次数、所需的急诊护理级别、救护车服务以及住院率。
来自25个州70家医院的多中心计算机数据库。
对寻求急诊护理的老年患者进行回顾性研究，并将老年患者与非老年患者进行比较。然后利用这些数据估算全国急诊医疗服务的使用情况。
在1,193,743次急诊就诊中，15%是由65岁及以上的患者进行的。在急诊就诊的老年患者中，32%被收治入院，而非老年患者的这一比例为7.5%。7%的老年患者被收入重症监护病房，而非老年患者为1%。寻求紧急护理的老年患者中有30%使用了救护车转运，而非老年患者为8%。据估计，1990年有13,693,400名老年患者到急诊就诊，其中超过400万患者被收治入院。与非老年人相比，老年人使用救护车转运的可能性高4.4倍，住院的可能性高5.6倍，入住重症监护病床的可能性高5.5倍，被归类为综合急诊服务级别的可能性高6.1倍。在我们的样本中，所有乘坐救护车抵达急诊的患者中有36%、所有急诊入院患者中有43%以及所有重症监护入院患者中有48%是老年患者。
随着老年人口数量的快速增长，评估照顾老年人群所需的急诊医疗资源非常重要。
