Emergency Department Visits by Persons Aged 65 and Over: United States, 2009–2010

October 15, 2013
During 2009 and 2010, people aged 65 and older made 19.6 million emergency department (ED) visits in the United States; visits by older adults represented approximately 15% of the total 129.8 million ED visits that year. The authors analyzed data from the 2009-2010 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a nationally representative survey of non-federal, general, and short-stay hospitals. The analysis evaluated differences in the emergency department visit rates across age group and among nursing home residents for the incidence of injury as a reason for the visit and hospitalizations following an . . .