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Frailty Markers Predicting Emergency Department Visits in a Community-Dwelling Sample of Vulnerable Seniors in Montreal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2011

Anita Au ,
Martine T.E. Puts ,
John D. Fletcher ,
Nadia Sourial  and
Howard Bergman
Anita Au
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, University of Alberta
Martine T.E. Puts*
Affiliation:
Solidage McGill/Université de Montreal Research Group on Frailty and Aging, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto
John D. Fletcher
Affiliation:
Solidage McGill/Université de Montreal Research Group on Frailty and Aging, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University
Nadia Sourial
Affiliation:
Solidage McGill/Université de Montreal Research Group on Frailty and Aging, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University
Howard Bergman
Affiliation:
Solidage McGill/Université de Montreal Research Group on Frailty and Aging, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University Division of Geriatric Medicine, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University Department of Oncology, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University
*
*Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to / La correspondance et les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à: Martine Puts Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing University of Toronto 155 College Street, Suite 130 Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1P8 (Martine.Puts@utoronto.ca)
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Abstract

Frailty puts individuals at increased risk for poor health outcomes. Elderly individuals use a disproportionate amount of emergency department (ED) resources. To investigate the relationship between frailty markers and the effect on ED use by community-dwelling seniors, we conducted a secondary analysis of a 22-month prospective randomized control trial in Montreal, Canada, using the Service Intégrés pour les Personnes Âgées en Perte d’Autonomie (SIPA) database. We assessed a sample of 565 individuals using five frailty markers: physical activity, strength, cognition, energy, and mobility. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression was performed to assess for potential relationship between frailty markers and ED visits. The findings revealed that 70 per cent of the participants had at least three frailty markers. No relationship was found between frailty markers and ED visits. These results suggest that in severely functionally disabled, community-dwelling elderly, the presence of frailty markers does not appear to predict ED visits.

Résumé

La fragilité met les individus à un risque accru de mauvaise santé. Les personnes âgées consomment une quantité disproportionnée des ressources du service des urgence [SU]. Afin d’étudier la relation entre les marqueurs de fragilité et l’effet sur l’utilisation des services des urgence par les personnes âgées vivant dans les communautés, nous avons mené une analyse secondaire d’un essai prospectif randomisé contrôlé de 22 mois à Montreal, au Canada, en utilisant la base de données du Système de services intégrés pour personnes âgées en perte d’autonomie (SIPA). Nous avons evalué un échantillon de 565 individus, avec cinq marqueurs de fragilité : l’activité physique, la force, la cognition, l’énérgie et la mobilité. Une régression logistique univariée et multivariée a été réalisée afin d’évaluer la relation potentielle entre les marqueurs de fragilité et les visites aux urgences. Les résultats ont révelé que 70 pour cent des participants avaient au moins trois marqueurs de fragilité. Cependant, aucune relation n’a été trouvée entre les marqueurs de fragilité et les visites aux urgences. Ces résultats suggèrent, donc, que parmi les personnes âgées fonctionellement sévèrement handicapés au sein des communautés, la présence de marqueurs de fragilité ne semble pas prévoir les visites aux urgences.

Keywords

marqueurs de la fragilitévisites aux urgencesrésident dans la communautépersonnes âgéesfrailty markersemergency department visitscommunity-dwellingelderly
Type
Research Note / Note de recherche
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 647 - 655
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2011

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