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Cognitive impairment is a risk factor for delayed analgesia in older people with long bone fracture: a multicenter
Margaret Fry1,2, Glenn Arendts3, Lynn Chenoweth4,5
1Research and Practice Development, Northern Sydney Local Health District, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.
Background:
Older people who present to the emergency department (ED) often experience a significant delay to analgesia. This study compares the time to analgesia for cognitively impaired and cognitively intact older people diagnosed with a long bone fracture.
Methods:
The aim of the study was to determine if cognitive impairment is associated with a delayed analgesic response. A 12-month exploratory study, using patient data, was conducted across four EDs. Medical records of 264 patients with long bone fractures were randomly selected.
Results:
The majority of patients waited longer than 60 minutes for analgesia. The median time to analgesia was longer for the cognitively impaired (149 minutes) compared with cognitively intact (72 minutes; Mann-Whitney U test: p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
This study suggests that cognitive impairment is a significant risk factor for delayed analgesia response in the ED.
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