Forensic Admissions of Geriatric Patients to the Emergency Department and Short- Term Mortality Rates
Forensic Admissions of Geriatric Patients
Keywords:
Geriatrics, forensic medicine, emergency medicine, mortalityAbstract
Objectives: The increasing number of geriatric admissions to the emergency department necessitates a separate study of geriatric admissions for forensic reasons. This study investigated the reasons for geriatric forensic cases presented to the emergency department, the one-month mortality rates of these cases, and the factors affecting mortality.
Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. All patients 65 years old and older who were reported as forensic cases and presented to the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital between June 2018 and April 2021 were included. Forensic diagnoses, type of injury, age, gender, Glasgow Coma Scale, consultation details, outcomes, and one-month mortality status were recorded.
Results: Among a total of 10.128 adult forensic presentations, 396 (3.9%) geriatric patient presentations were included in the study. The most common forensic diagnoses were motor vehicle accidents (24.2%) and pedestrian accidents (24.2%). Soft tissue injuries were the most common type of injury, followed by fractures of extremities. The logistic regression analysis showed that age (OR, 1.095; 95% CI: 1.027-1.169), Glasgow Coma Scale (OR, 0.655; 95% CI: 0.560-0.765), number of consultations (OR, 1.840; 95% CI: 1.312-2.581), and pedestrian accidents (OR, 0.052; 95% CI: 0.006-0.460) were significantly associated with one-month mortality.
Conclusion: Traffic accidents, including motor vehicle and pedestrian accidents, were found to be the most common type of forensic cases in this group of patients. One-month mortality increased with age, number of consultations, low Glasgow Coma Scale, and absence of pedestrian accident.