ArticleGeroScience2026
What emergency department length of stay reveals about aging-related vulnerability and declining resilience.
Article in GeroScience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) is associated with adverse outcomes and increases with age, but the extent to which this reflects differences beyond triage acuity is unclear. Emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) is associated with adverse outcomes and increases with age, but the extent to which this reflects differences beyond triage acuity is unclear.We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult ED visits at a tertiary hospital in Hungary between 2016 and 2023 (n = 188,082). Triage data have been available from 2019 onward. LOS was modelled using gamma regression, adjusting for age, triage category, sex, season, and an age-triage interaction, with sensitivity analyses incorporating additional operational covariates. Admission and ED mortality were analysed using multivariable logistic regression. ED LOS increased progressively with advancing age across all triage categories. Mean LOS rose from 5.9 h in patients <65 years to 9.7 h in those ≥85 years (+64%). Age remained independently associated with longer LOS after adjustment (rate ratio per year 1.005, 95% CI 1.004-1.006), with a significant age-triage interaction (p < 0.001). Higher-acuity triage assignments were more frequent with age, yet age-related LOS differences persisted within each triage category. ED mortality increased markedly with advancing age. These patterns were consistent across sensitivity analyses. Advancing age was associated with longer ED LOS across all triage categories, independent of triage acuity, indicating that age-related differences in emergency care trajectories extend beyond differences in initial acuity. The persistence of LOS prolongation across triage strata suggests that standard acuity-based assessment does not fully capture aging-related vulnerability. From a geroscience perspective, ED LOS may reflect as a routinely available, system-level signal of aging-related vulnerability beyond triage acuity, with direct relevance for early risk identification, geriatric care pathways, delirium prevention, and health system planning.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41963706What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.