Short-term Outcome of Elderly Patients Discharged from an Emergency Department

Background: Elderly people are at risk of higher morbidity and mortality rates whether in normal or medical conditions. In this research, the short-term outcomes of elderly and non-elderly groups discharged from the emergency department, Imam Hossein Hospital were studied. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012 on two groups of elderly patients (> 65 years) and non-elderly patients (< 65 years), all of who had been admitted to the emergency department. One week and three weeks after discharge, re-referral of the patients was followed up by phone conversation. The data was analyzed using SPSS Ver. 20 and the level of statistical significance was considered to be p <0.05. Results: Totally 286 patients participated in this study, including 143 elderly and 143 non-elderly patients, 48.3% of whom were females and 51.7% were males. Neurological problems were the most common disorder among the elderly (14.6%), and hypertension was the most common previous disease history in them (8.7%). In sum, 27.9% of the elderly were readmitted one week after discharge, and the rate was 8.3% for the next follow- up, i.e. three weeks after discharge, which was higher than the rate of re-referral for non-elderly patients (p < 0.05). The leading cause for re-referral of elderly people in the first follow-up was neurological diseases (11%) and heart diseases in the second follow-up (26.4%). Conclusion: The re-referral rate after discharge among the elderly is high, so it is necessary that complete diagnostic and therapeutic measures and rehabilitation cares be performed to improve the conditions of the elderly and to reduce treatment costs and the length of stay (LOS).