Citation

Gaudin AC, Moumneh T, Rivière H, Roy PM, Annweiler C, Brangier A. Geriatr. Psychol. Neuropsychiatr. Vieil. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Vernacular Title

Prise en charge et orientation des patients gériatriques consultant aux urgences pour une chute : résultats de l’étude de cohorte OREGoN.

Affiliation

Department of geriatric medicine, Angers University Hospital, Angers ; University memory clinic, Research center on autonomy and longevity, UPRES EA 4638, University of Angers, Angers, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Libbey Eurotext)

DOI

10.1684/pnv.2019.0809

PMID

31328719

Abstract

Falls in older adults are a frequent reason for admission to the emergency department, associated with greater morbidity and mortality risks, and justify specialized geriatric expertise. Our objective was to determine i) the number of older fallers admitted to the emergency department for a serious fall, and ii) the proportion of those who were referred to a geriatrician in the following 12 months.

METHODS: We included all patients aged 75 and over admitted to the emergency department of the University hospital of Angers, France, for a fall between 1st October and 1st November 2015. The consensual criteria proposed by the French national authority for health (2009) were used to define serious falls.

RESULTS: Of the 214 older fallers admitted to the emergency department, 213 (99.5%) had at least one severity criterion for the fall. Only 40 older patients (18.7%) were referred to a geriatrician during the following 12 months. They exhibited more frequently a post-fall syndrome (p=0.007), more than 3 fall risk factors (p <0.001), and took more often an anticoagulant (p=0.032) than those who had not been referred to a geriatrician.

CONCLUSIONS: Although almost all older fallers admitted to the emergency room had experienced a serious fall, only a minority of them received a geriatric assessment in the following year.

Language: en

Keywords

accidental fall; emergency department; guidelines; older adults; serious fall