title: High prevalence of frequent attendance in the over 65s.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Characteristics of older frequent users of Emergency Departments (EDs) are poorly understood. Our aim was to examine the characteristics of the ED frequent attenders (FAs) by age (under 65 and over 65 years).
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the prevalence of FA attending the ED of an Urban Teaching Hospital in a cross-sectional study between 2009 and 2011. FA was defined as an individual who presented to the ED four or more times over a 12-month period. Randomly selected groups of FA and non-FA from two age groups (under 65 and over 65 years) were then examined to compare the characteristics between older FAs and non-FAs and older FAs and younger FAs. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals for 12-month mortality in FA compared with non-FA aged at least 65 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 137 150 ED attendances were recorded between 2009 and 2011. A total of 21.6% were aged at least 65 years, 4.4% of whom were FAs, accounting for 18.4% of attendances by patients older than 65 years. There was a bimodal age distribution of FA (mean±SD; under 65 years 40±12.7; and over 65 years 76.9±7.4). Older FAs were five times more likely to present outside normal working hours and 5.5 times more likely to require admission. Cardiovascular emergencies were the most common complaint, in contrast with the younger FA group, where injury and psychosocial conditions dominated. The odds ratio for death at 12 months was 2.07 (95% confidence interval 0.93-4.63; P=0.07), adjusting for age and sex.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  One-in-five ED patients older than 65 years of age are FAs. Older FAs largely present with complex medical conditions. Enhanced access to expert gerontology assessment should be considered as part of effective intervention strategies for older ED users.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, St James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: C Geraldine
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.affiliation: Trinity College.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Power Foley
authors.affiliation: St James's Hospital.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, St James's Hospital.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Donnell
authors.affiliation: Trinity College.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poulton
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Gerontology, Institute of Neuroscience.
authors.forename: Rose A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Kenny
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Trinity Medical School, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bennett
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D014218:Triage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data