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Published on: September 30, 2020
Changing Presenting Complaints During 72-Hour Emergency Department Revisits: Associations with Functional Status and
Wen-Chun Tsai1,2, Hsiu-Lan Li2,3, Yi-Shan Wu2
1Department of Nursing, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei City 112, Taiwan.
Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)
|August 13, 2026
Summary
Patients returning to the emergency department (ED) within 72 hours with different complaints were older and had lower functional status. This difference in presenting complaints may impact patient outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Quality
- Emergency Medicine
- Patient Outcomes
Background:
- Emergency department (ED) revisits within 72 hours are key healthcare quality indicators.
- A significant proportion of ED revisits involve presenting complaints different from the initial visit.
- Factors influencing these changing complaints require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify factors associated with changing presenting complaints in patients with early ED revisits.
- To examine the relationship between complaint consistency and revisit disposition.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective cohort study of adult patients with unscheduled ED revisits within 72 hours.
- Comparison of presenting complaints between index ED visits and revisits.
- Multivariable logistic regression to determine factors associated with complaint consistency.
- Analysis of revisit disposition.
Main Results:
- 41.3% of patients (809/1957) had changing presenting complaints.
- Changing complaints were associated with older age and lower activities of daily living (ADL) scores.
- Male sex, increasing age, and higher ADL scores were independently associated with complaint consistency.
- Revisit disposition differed significantly between groups with consistent versus changing complaints.
Conclusions:
- Changing presenting complaints in early ED revisits are linked to older age and poorer functional status.
- These findings suggest potential differences in patient acuity or needs.
- Prospective validation is needed to determine clinical utility.
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