@article{ref1,
title="Emergency ambulance demand by older adults from rural and regional Victoria, Australia",
journal="Australasian journal on ageing",
year="2021",
author="McManamny, Tegwyn E. and Dwyer, Rosamond and Cantwell, Kate and Boyd, Leanne and Sheen, Jade and Smith, Karen and Lowthian, Judy A.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To describe the demographic profile and clinical case mix of older adults following calls for an emergency ambulance in rural Victoria, Australia. <br><br>METHODS: Retrospective cohort study using ambulance electronic patient care records from rural-dwelling older adults (≥65 years old) who requested emergency ambulance attendance during 2017. <br><br>RESULTS: A total of 84 785 older adults requested emergency ambulance attendance, representing a rate of 278 per 1000 population aged ≥65 years. More than 10% of calls were to residential aged care homes. Medical complaints and trauma accounted for 69% and 18% of attendances, respectively. The predominant cause of trauma was ground-level falls. Common reasons for call-outs were for pain (17.5%), respiratory problems (9.7%) and cardiovascular problems (8.5%). Increased demand was associated with increasing age and winter months. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Older adults from rural Victoria have high rates of emergency ambulance attendance and transportation to an emergency department, particularly with increasing age.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1440-6381",
doi="10.1111/ajag.12960",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajag.12960"
}