Emergency department visits for emergent conditions among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background/objective

Emergency department (ED) visits have declined while excess mortality, not attributable to COVID-19, has grown. It is not known whether older adults are accessing emergency care differently from their younger counterparts. Our objective was to determine patterns of ED visit counts for emergent conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic for older adults.

Design

Retrospective, observational study.

Setting

Observational analysis of ED sites enrolled in a national clinical quality registry.

Participants

One hundred and sixty-four ED sites in 33 states from January 1, 2019 to November 15, 2020.

Main outcome and measures

We measured daily ED visit counts for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke, sepsis, fall, and hip fracture, as well as

SUBMITTER: Janke AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8242842 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature