Study: Older Patients Vulnerable to Functional Decline Following ED Visit

A new study suggests older patients are particularly vulnerable to functional decline in the six months following a visit to the ED. Investigators noted the findings suggest there are opportunities to short-circuit this trajectory with added assessment and arrangements for follow-up interventions at the time of the ED visit. . Investigators compared 754 older patients who visited the ED with a matched group of 813 patients who did not visit an ED. They also studied an unmatched group of older patients who were hospitalized following an ED visit. . At the beginning of the study, both the ED-visit and control groups exhibited similar functional abilities, with levels of disability ranging between 3 and 4 on a disability scale, where lower scores represented lower levels of disability. . The ED-visit group scored an average of 14% higher than the control group participants on the disability scale during the six months following the ED visit. The group with participants who had ED visits followed by hospitalization demonstrated disability scores that were 17% higher than the ED-visit only group. . Investigators pointed to studies showing that ED-based screening and follow-up of older patients can prevent the risk of functional decline, decrease readmissions, and potentially prevent admissions to the ICU.