Older adults who go to the emergency department (ED) for an illness or injury are at increased risk for disability and decline in physical abilities up to six months later, according to a study by Yale researchers. The study was published on Jan. 6, 2017, in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. Most adults aged 65 and older who visit the emergency department each year are treated and sent home. Previous work by senior author Dr. Thomas M. Gill , the Humana Foundation Professor of Medicine (geriatrics) at Yale School of Medicine, and his colleagues showed that older adults are more likely to experience disability and declines in function after a hospitalization. But few studies have examined what happens in this population after a visit to and discharge from the ED. For their study, the Yale team used prospective data collected on more than 700 older adults over 14 years.
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