Emergency room visits by seniors rising: study

By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The rate of visits to U.S. hospital emergency rooms by senior citizens grew faster than that of any other age group between 1993 and 2003, straining the country's already overcrowded emergency care system, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The research from George Washington University also found the rate of emergency room visits by older blacks was rising at an alarming rate.

The reasons behind seniors' accelerated visit rates were not immediately clear.

Researchers said the trend could have been driven by health-care advances that have resulted in people living longer with chronic medical issues. It could also have been related to difficulty finding timely primary care, they said.

"Seniors are using the emergency department more and more frequently, and given the needs of this population and the nature of their medical problems, the current state of overcrowding is likely to continue to escalate dramatically," said Dr. Mary Pat McKay, a study co-author from the George Washington University Medical Center in Washington.

The researchers, who published their findings in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, said a review of hospital data from 1993 to 2003 showed a 34 percent increase in emergency room visits by people aged 65 to 74.

By comparison, there was little change in visit rates among people younger than the age of 21 from 1993 to 2003. The rate of visits was up 19 percent for individuals aged 22 to 49 and 16 percent for people aged 50 to 64.

The authors said seniors' additional emergency room visits did not appear to be driven by frivolous complaints.