A 12-year retrospective analysis of differences between elderly and oldest old patients referred to the emergency department of a large tertiary hospital

摘要

Objectives: Globally, the average age of the population is increasing. Patients aged 65 years attending hospital emergency departments (EDs) differ from younger patients; in particular, they often present with multiple comorbidities. Our retrospective study evaluates the number of attendances at our ED by elderly patients in the 12 years from January 2005 to December 2017. Our first aim was to evaluate differences presented by elderly patients regarding symptoms, clinical features, color code (i.e. priority assigned to the case, where red is highest and yellow is medium), waiting time and outcome.