Prescription use and survival among nonagenarians presenting to the ED

To characterize prescription medication use and survival effect among nonagenarians with an emergency department (ED) visit, we performed a retrospective chart review for all nonagenarians presenting to the ED in 2002. Data were collected on medication number and category and on survival after discharge. At admission, patients were taking no medications (3.2%), 1 to 4 medications (35%), 5 to 9 medications (51.9%), or at least 10 medications (9.9%); the median number increased by 2 at discharge (P < .001). Among 565 patients dismissed, 6-month survival was 77.8% and 1-year survival was 65.6%. Patients discharged with prescriptions for opioids or other analgesics were more likely to die within 12 months than those discharged without these medications. Patients taking aspirin had a 40% lower mortality compared with those not taking aspirin (P = .004). Patients discharged with medication in other categories had no excess mortality.