Comparative Clinical Characteristics of Frail Older Adults in the Emergency Department: Long-Term Care Hospital versus Community Residence

Older patients from long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) presenting to emergency departments (EDs) exhibit a higher prevalence of frailty than those from the community. However, no study has examined frailty in patients from LTCHs in the ED. This study compared frailty in older patients from LTCHs and t...

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Published in:Journal of personalized medicine 2024-09, Vol.14 (10), p.1026
Main Authors: Choi, Yunhyung, Chung, Hosub, Lim, Jiyeon, Kim, Keon, Bae, Sungjin, Choi, Yoonhee, Lee, Donghoon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age groups
Aged patients
Clinical outcomes
Community organizations
COVID-19 diagnostic tests
Emergency medical care
Emergency service
Frailty
Geriatrics
Hospital patients
Hospitalization
Hospitals
Life expectancy
Long term health care
Long-term care facilities
Long-term care of the sick
Medical personnel
Medical research
Medicine, Experimental
Mortality
Older people
Patients
Regression analysis
South Korea
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Summary:Older patients from long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) presenting to emergency departments (EDs) exhibit a higher prevalence of frailty than those from the community. However, no study has examined frailty in patients from LTCHs in the ED. This study compared frailty in older patients from LTCHs and the community. We retrospectively analyzed data from the EDs of three university hospitals between 1 August and 31 October 2023, involving 5908 patients (515 from LTCHs and 5393 from the community). The Korean version of the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS-K) was used to assess individuals aged 65 and older. We compared clinical characteristics, frailty, length of stay (LOS), and diagnosis between patients from LTCHs (LTCH group) and the community (community group). Among ED patients, 55.0% and 35.2% in the LTCH and the community groups, respectively, were frail ( < 0.001). Of these, 71.7% in the LTCH group were hospitalized compared with 53.1% in the community group ( = 0.001). The odds ratio for in-hospital mortality was 4.910 (95% CI 1.458-16.534, = 0.010) for frail LTCH patients and 3.748 (95% CI 2.599-5.405, < 0.001) for frail community patients, compared to non-frail patients. Patients from LTCHs with frailty had higher hospital admission rates and increased in-hospital mortality compared to those in the community at the same frailty level. This study offers essential insights into the characteristics of older patients in LTCHs for healthcare administrators and medical staff worldwide.
ISSN:2075-4426
2075-4426
DOI:10.3390/jpm14101026