Common causes of geriatric medical emergencies in China

One of the most significant demographic changes in our country is the increase in the elderly population. In China Mainland, the population aged 60 and older was 194 million in 2012, accounting for 14.3% of the total population. However, by 2053, it is estimated that the number of elderly will reach 487 million, representing 34.8% of the total population. Elderly patients represent an ever-increasing populace in emergency medicine who often present with atypical signs and symptoms as well as comorbidities that can complicate diagnoses and treatment. The geographic factors and the developmental status of the country can influence the spectrum of common geriatric emergencies. Thus, this study presents a retrospective analysis of common causes of geriatric emergencies involving 9,628 elderly patients from Jan. 2008 to Dec. 2013 in an emergency department in Beijing, China. The ages of patients ranged from 60 to 103, with a mean age of 82 years old. These patients included 7,815 males and 1,813 females. The most common causes for geriatric emergency medical treatment are listed in Table 1. In this study, the three most common causes of geriatric emergencies were respiratory disease (26.2%), cardiovascular disease (20.8%) assumed as the uppermost one, and neurological disease (10.9%), which almost consisted with a previous study. A study conducted in France reported the main reasons for emergency admissions of elderly patients in a university hospital were cardiopulmonary disease in 31.6% of cases, followed by neuropsychiatric disorders, which accounted for 28.2%. However, in a rural hospital in south-eastern Nigeria, the three most common causes of geriatric emergencies included acute malaria (33.8%), hypertensive crises syndrome (19.0%), and acute hypertensive heart failure (18.1%). These differing statistics support the belief that common causes of geriatric emergencies are generally related to geographic factors and developmental status of the country. Table 1. Common causes of geriatric emergencies in 9,628 elderly Chinese.