Emergency demand and repeat attendances by older patients

Population ageing is projected to impact on health services utilisation including Emergency Departments (ED), with older patients reportedly having a high rate of return visits. We describe and compare patterns in ED utilisation between older and younger adults, and quantify the proportion and rate of return visits.

Population-based retrospective analysis of metropolitan Melbourne public hospital ED data, 1999/2000 to 2008/2009. Numbers of patients, presentations, re-presentations and rates per 1000 population were calculated, with comparison of older (aged ≥ 70 years) and younger (15-69 years) attendances.

Population growth in each age group was similar over the study period, yet ED presentations rose by 72% for older adults compared with a 59% increase for younger adults. Rates per 1000 population rose with increasing age. Of the population aged ≥ 70 years, 39% presented to ED compared with 17% of the population aged 15-69 years in 2008/2009. Twenty-seven per cent of the increase in older adult presentations was driven by a cohort who attended ≥ 4 times in 2008/2009. The number of older patients presenting ≥ 4 times doubled over the decade, contributing to 23% of all older presentations in 2008/2009. ED length of stay rose with increasing age; 69% of older adults remained in ED for ≥ 4 h compared with 39% of younger adults in 2008/2009. The number of older adult ED hospital admissions doubled over the decade.

Older patients are disproportionately represented among ED attendances. They also have an increasing propensity to re-present to ED, indicating a need to identify the clinical, social and health system-related risk factors for re-attendance by specific patients.