Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29907110›Full record

ArticleBMC health services research2018

Differences in triage category, priority level and hospitalization rate between young-old and old-old patients visiting the emergency department.

Sarah Vilpert, Stéfanie Monod, Hélène Jaccard Ruedin, Jürgen Maurer, Lionel Trueb, Bertrand Yersin, Christophe Büla

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC health services research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Nonspecific complaints in the emergency department - a systematic review.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2020
    Pooled it
  2. Observational
  3. Article
  4. Article
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  7. Observational
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Sarah VilpertFORS Swiss Centre of Expertise in Social Sciences, University of Lausanne, Géopolis, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland. sarah.vilpert@unil.ch.ORCID 0000-0001-8194-0421
Stéfanie MonodPublic Health Department of the Canton of Vaud, Av. des Casernes 2, Lausanne, 1014, Switzerland.
Hélène Jaccard RuedinRéseau Santé Nord Broye, Center for Community Geriatrics, Av. des Sciences 1, 1400, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland.
Jürgen MaurerDepartment of Economics, University of Lausanne, Internef, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Lionel TruebService of Emergency Medicine, University of Lausanne Medical Center (CHUV), Rue du Bugnon 46, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Bertrand YersinService of Emergency Medicine, University of Lausanne Medical Center (CHUV), Rue du Bugnon 46, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Christophe BülaService of Geriatric Medicine and Geriatric Rehabilitation, University of Lausanne Medical Center (CHUV), Mont-Paisible 16, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEmergency Department (ED) are challenged by the increasing number of visits made by the heterogeneous population of elderly persons. This study aims to 1) compare chief complaints (triage categories) and level of priority; 2) to investigate their association with hospitalization after an ED visit; 3) to explore factors explaining the difference in hospitalization rates among community-dwelling older adults aged 65-84 vs 85+ years.

methodsAll ED visits of patients age 65 and over that occurred between 2005 and 2010 to the University of Lausanne Medical Center were analyzed. Associations of hospitalization with triage categories and level of priority using regressions were compared between the two age groups. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition was performed to explore how much age-related differences in prevalence of priority level and triage categories contributed to predicted difference in hospitalization rates across the two age groups.

resultsAmong 39'178 ED visits, 8'812 (22.5%) occurred in 85+ patients. This group had fewer high priority and more low priority conditions than the younger group. Older patients were more frequently triaged in "Trauma" (20.9 vs 15.0%) and "Home care impossible" (10.1% vs 4.2%) categories, and were more frequently hospitalized after their ED visit (69.1% vs 58.5%). Differences in prevalence of triage categories between the two age groups explained a quarter (26%) of the total age-related difference in hospitalization rates, whereas priority level did not play a role.

conclusionsPrevalence of priority level and in triage categories differed across the two age groups but only triage categories contributed moderately to explaining the age-related difference in hospitalization rates after the ED visit. Indeed, most of this difference remained unexplained, suggesting that age itself, besides other unmeasured factors, may play a role in explaining the higher hospitalization rate in patients aged 85+ years.

Indexed as

Geriatric AssessmentTriageAgedAged, 80 and overAge DistributionAppointments and SchedulesEmergency Service, HospitalFemaleHealth Services ResearchHospitalizationHumansMalePrevalenceEmergency departmentGeriatrics Health servicesHome care impossibleHospitalization

Identifiers

PMID29907110
PMCPMC6003168

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.