Centre for Policy on Ageing



Risk of admission within 4 weeks of discharge of elderly patients from the emergency department - the DEED study
Author(s)	G A Caplan, A Brown, W D Croker
Journal title	Age and Ageing, vol 27, no 6, November 1998
Pages	pp 697-702
Keywords	Accident & emergency depts ; Discharge ; Admission [hospitals] ; At risk ; Over 70s ; Australia.
Annotation	Evidence shows that older people discharged from emergency departments (EDs) have an increased risk of hospital admission. This Australian study aimed to identify risk factors for admission for patients aged 75 years and older after discharge from the ED. A total of 468 patients aged 75 and over participated in the study; 80 patients were admitted to hospital during the subsequent four weeks. Risk factors for admission included dependence in the following activities of daily living (ADLs): bathing, dressing, stairs, finance, shopping, and transport, as well as use of a community nurse. Logistic regression analysis found two variables to be significant in predicting admission or not: dependence in transport and use of a community nurse. The study concluded that a questionnaire may be used to identify high-risk patients, which would allow targeting for more intensive follow-up in an attempt to ameliorate further deteriorations in their health. (AKM).
Accession Number	CPA-990208223 A
Classmark	LD6: QKJ: LD:QKH: CA3: BBK: 7YA
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.