Forensic Admissions of Geriatric Patients to the Emergency Department and Short- Term Mortality Rates

Forensic Admissions of Geriatric Patients

Authors

  • Secdegül Coşkun Yaş Clinic of Emergency Medicine, University of Health Sciences Türkiye, Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Türkiye
  • Mehmet Ali Aslaner Department of Emergency Medicine, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Türkiye
  • Fikret Bildik Department of Emergency Medicine, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Türkiye

Keywords:

Geriatrics, forensic medicine, emergency medicine, mortality

Abstract

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.

Downloads

Published

09.01.2025

Issue

Section

Original Research

Most read articles by the same author(s)