Comorbid psychiatric conditions in the Elderly associated with Dementia in the Emergency Department: Analysis from a US Nationwide Emergency Department Database

• Published in: The American journal of geriatric psychiatry 2023-03, Vol.31 (3), p.S45-S45
• Main Authors: Oladunjoye, Adeolu Funso, Anugwom, Gibson, Oladunjoye, Olubunmi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1064-7481; 1545-7214
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2022.12.202

Most people with dementia have a higher risk for developing psychiatric symptoms including psychosis and mood changes. Psychiatric conditions have been associated with worse outcomes in patient with dementia. We sort to see the presentation patterns of psychiatric conditions especially major depressive disorder (MDD) in elderly patients with dementia in the emergency department. We used the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample in 2018 and identified elderly patient ages 65 years and above with a history of Dementia. We compared demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with and without dementia. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to determine the association between dementia and other psychiatric conditions in this population. A total of 7,196,547 elderly visits in the emergency department in 2018 were analyzed with a prevalence of 8.7% with Dementia. Elderly visits with dementia were more likely to be females than males (63% vs. 37%). The mean age of patients with dementia were higher than those without dementia (82 years vs 75 years). The most common psychiatric comorbidities were MDD (14.5%), anxiety disorder (10.9%), bipolar disorder (1.6%) and Schizophrenia (1.3%). Also, the most common substance use disorder in this population is Alcohol use disorder (1.3%). After adjusting for other variables such as sex and disease comorbidities including, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder, and substance use disorders including alcohol, opioid, cannabis, and cocaine, there remained an association between other psychiatric conditions including MDD and Dementia in this elderly hospitalization (OR = 2.25, 95% CI 2.19-2.32), p