Association of age with emergency department visits and hospital admissions: A nationwide study

AIM: Older adults are frequently stigmatized for improper emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between age and appropriateness of ED visits, and the mismatching between ED clinical severity and hospitalizations. METHODS: We carried out a nationwide assessment of Italian Informative System for the Emergency and Urgency data from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015 including patients admitted to all the Italian EDs for any reason. Appropriateness of ED visits was defined as a yellow/red/black color code (potentially life-threatening/dead patients), whereas clinical severity/hospitalization mismatching was defined as hospital admission after validated ED green/white codes. Analyses dedicated to people aged ≥75 years were carried out. RESULTS: There were 20 400 071 ED visits (3 444 091 aged ≥75 years), which increased with age, up to >650/1000 inhabitants aged ≥90 years. The appropriateness of ED visits increased with age, from 6.3% in the 5-9 years age group to 44.2% in the 95-99 years age group. Clinical severity/hospitalization mismatching decreased with age, from 62.9% in the 30-34 years age group to 27.7% in the 95-99 years age group. At ED presentation, 21.6% of patients aged ≥75 years complained of non-specific symptoms, and hospital discharge diagnoses frequently differed from the ED admission diagnoses; 11.4% died during hospitalization and 8.8% were discharged to long-term care facilities. CONCLUSIONS: The request for ED care and the admission to acute care ward are commonly appropriate for older patients. Clinical presentation at ED admission is frequently atypical. Health care systems should aim at improving outpatients' management to reduce the ED care need, but also at optimizing in-hospital strategies and pathways for older adults. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2022; 22: 917-923.