title: [Elderly seeking emergency care should receive special care. Contact patterns and underlying diagnoses in retrospective cross-sectional study].
abstract: We investigated and documented the most common presenting complaints of elderly patients ≥80 years of age in Västerbotten at the emergency department of Umeå University hospital. We found that the ten most common presenting complaints represented more than half of all emergency department visits. The three most common presenting complaints were abdominal pain, chest pain and dyspnoea. On average, around 80 % of all patients were admitted to a ward and for the three most common presenting complaints the number was even higher. The main conclusions from this study were that a surprisingly high proportion of elderly patients are admitted to a ward after the emergency department visit at Umeå University hospital and that patients seeking with one of the three most common presenting complaints often had complex discharge diagnoses involving typically chronic geriatric diseases which were hidden behind general presenting complaints.
authors.affiliation: Institutionen för Medicin - Akutkliniken Karolinska universitetssjukhuset Stockholm, Sweden Institutionen för Medicin - Akutkliniken Karolinska universitetssjukhuset Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holzmann
authors.affiliation: Umeå Universitet - Umeå, Sweden Umeå Universitet - Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Petrini
authors.affiliation: Institutionen för neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle, Karolinska Institutet - Centrum för Allmänmedicin Stockholm, Sweden Institutionen för neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle, Karolinska Institutet - Centrum för Allmänmedicin Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hasselström
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institutet - Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society Huddinge, Sweden Karolinska Institutet - Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society Huddinge, Sweden.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wändell
authors.affiliation: Kirurgi och Perioperativ vetenskap - Akutsjukvård Umeå, Sweden Kirurgi och Perioperativ vetenskap - Akutsjukvård Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bylund
authors.affiliation: Kirurgi och Perioperativ vetenskap - Akutsjukvård Umeå, Sweden Kirurgi och Perioperativ vetenskap - Akutsjukvård Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Toralph
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ruge
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000453:epidemiology; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000453:epidemiology; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies