Evaluation of geriatric patients admitted to emergency department with a complaint of abdominal pain in terms of demographic characteristics and prognosis

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the demographic characteristics, emergency care needs and prognosis of patients aged 65 years and older who presented to our Emergency Medicine Clinic with abdominal pain for a period of one year.

Patients and Methods: In this single-center, retrospective, observational study included patients aged 65 years and older who presented to the emergency department with abdominal pain between June 15, 2015 and June 14, 2016. The related variables were recorded from the patients' electronic and written files. The general patient population and the differences of variables in the 65-74 age group, 75-84 age group and ≥85 age group were investigated.

Results: A total of 1330 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 75.2 ± 7.2 years and 582 (43.8%) were male. While 58.8% of the patients were discharged from the emergency department, the most common hospitalization wards were General Surgery (14.1%) and Gastroenterology (11.4%). The ICU admission rate increased with age (p<0.001; 3.3% - 5.8% - 11.6%). The mean length of stay in hospital was 5.9 ± 7.1 days and the in-hospital mortality rate was 3.4%. While 50.1% of the patients in the 65-74 age group were discharged from the emergency department without consultation, this rate decreased to 36.6% in the ≥85 age group and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). Abdominal ultrasound was performed in 34.1%, abdominal tomography in 20.0% and both of them in 7.5% of the patients.

Conclusion: The patients aged 85 years and older with abdominal pain are more likely to be characterized by more examination needs, more consultation needs, more hospitalization rates and higher mortality rates. Taking these differences into consideration during the management of the elderly patients with abdominal pain in emergency department will help to reduce morbidity and mortality rates while improving patient care quality.