Association of functional status, cognition, social support, and geriatric syndrome with admission from the emergency department

Question: Are patient-related factors that disproportionately affect older adults, including lower functional status, cognitive impairment, limited social supports, and geriatric syndromes, associated with emergency department (ED) clinicians’ decision to admit patients to the hospital?

Findings: In this cohort study of 42 392 ED visits by 11 783 unique patients, functional status, cognitive status, and social supports were associated with the likelihood of admission from the ED, whereas no association was found with other common geriatric syndromes.

Meaning: Findings of this study suggest that incorporating patient-level factors is essential to understanding the factors associated with hospital admission of older patients from the ED and the potential areas for devising interventions to reduce low-value admissions that may be treated in other settings.

Smulowitz, P. B., Weinreb, G. G., McWilliams, J. M., O'Malley, A. J., & Landon, B. E. (2023). Association of functional status, cognition, social support, and geriatric syndrome with admission from the emergency department. JAMA internal medicine, 183(8), 784–792.
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