title: The ED use and non-urgent visits of elderly patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the use of the emergency department (ED) by elderly patients, their non-urgent visits and the prevalence of main disease for ED visits.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients aged 65 years and over who visited the ED of a tertiary care university hospital in Turkey between January 2015 and January 2016 retrospectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 36,369 elderly patients who visited the ED were included in the study. The rate of ED visits by elderly patients was higher than their representation within the general population (p < 0.001). While the rate of elderly patients visiting polyclinics was 15.8%, the rate of elderly patients visiting the ED was 24.3% (p < 0.001). For both genders, the rates of ED visits for patients between 65 and 74 years old was higher than for other elderly age groups (p < 0.001). The prevalence of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) was the highest within the elderly population (17.5%, CI: 17.1-17.9). The proportion of ED visits for non-urgent conditions was 23.4%. Most of the ED visits were during the non-business hours (51.1%), and they were highest in the winter season (25.9%) and in January (10.2%). The hospitalization rate was 9.4%, and 37.9% of hospitalized patients were admitted to intensive care units.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proportion of ED visits by elderly patients was higher than their representation within the general population. Elderly patients often visited the ED instead of a polyclinic. The rate of inappropriate ED use by elderly patients in this hospital was higher than in other countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Adiyaman University Faculty of Medicine, 02040 Adiyaman, Turkey.
authors.forename: Umut
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gulacti
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Adiyaman University Faculty of Medicine, 02040 Adiyaman, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ugur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Lok
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Adiyaman University Faculty of Medicine, 02040 Adiyaman, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Celik
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Adiyaman University Faculty of Medicine, 02040 Adiyaman, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nurettin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aktas
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Adiyaman University Faculty of Medicine, 02040 Adiyaman, Turkey.
authors.forename: Haci
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Polat
keywords: Elderly patient; Emergency department; Main disease; Non-urgent; Prevalence; Visit