University of California--Los Angeles School of Nursing, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Geriatr Nurs. 2012 Mar-Apr;33(2):105-12. doi: 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2011.12.003. Epub 2012 Jan 17.
Cognitive impairment limits older adults' abilities to advocate for themselves, thus heightening their risk for abuse. Some older adults with cognitive impairments who seek emergency department (ED) services may present with injuries suspicious of abuse. A portion of these injuries may be erroneously attributed to accidents such as falls. A retrospective analysis of 2 years of ED data using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes was conducted focusing on characteristics of injuries sustained by persons with co-occurring cognitive impairment and fall status. Cognitive impairment was not significantly related to falls (P = .533). Findings suggest that persons with cognitive impairment have unique injury patterns based on fall status, which has implications for elder abuse screening. Injuries for persons with no fall history included injury to the upper limb (P = .004), contusions (P = .012), and open wounds (P = .000). An increased recognition of common injuries in older adults can aid in elder abuse assessment by providing a reference point for uncommon injuries.
认知障碍限制了老年人自我主张的能力，从而增加了他们遭受虐待的风险。一些寻求急诊部（ED）服务的有认知障碍的老年人可能会因可疑虐待而受伤。使用国际疾病分类，第九版（ICD-9）代码对 2 年的 ED 数据进行了回顾性分析，重点是同时患有认知障碍和跌倒状态的人所受伤害的特征。认知障碍与跌倒无显著相关性（P=.533）。研究结果表明，根据跌倒状态，认知障碍患者的受伤模式具有独特性，这对老年人虐待筛查具有影响。没有跌倒史的人的伤害包括上肢损伤（P=.004）、挫伤（P=.012）和开放性伤口（P=.000）。增加对老年人常见伤害的认识可以通过为不常见的伤害提供参考点来帮助评估老年人虐待。
