by Elana Gotkine

For adults aged 65 years and older with Alzheimer’s disease, the emergency department visit rate was 36.1 visits per 1,000 adults in 2020 to 2022, according to an October data brief published by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Loredana Santo, M.D., M.P.H., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues describe emergency department visits by adults aged 65 years and older with Alzheimer’s disease and compared them to visits by adults without Alzheimer’s disease using data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

The researchers found that the annual hospital emergency department visit rate by adults aged 65 years and older with Alzheimer’s disease was 36.1 visits per 1,000 adults during 2000 to 2020 and increased with age.

Ambulance arrival was more frequent for adults with versus without Alzheimer’s disease (61.0 versus 34.9 percent). More emergency department visits were made by nursing home residents with versus without Alzheimer’s disease (29.6 versus 5.9 percent). More emergency department visits made by adults with versus without Alzheimer’s disease resulted in hospital admission (37.2 versus 28.6 percent).

“Among adults age 65 and older, a higher percentage of emergency department visits by adults with Alzheimer’s disease resulted in hospital admission,” the authors write. “However, when examined across age groups, the difference was statistically significant only for visits by those ages 65 to 74.”

More information: Santo Loredana et al, Emergency Department Visits by Adults Age 65 and Older with Alzheimer Disease: United States, 2020-2022. DOI: 10.15620/cdc/164015

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