Geriatric syndromes were highly prevalent. Many patients did not return to their premorbid function and acquired new syndromes.

No abstract

Objectives: Identifying older emergency department (ED) patients with clinical features associated with adverse postdischarge outcomes may lead to improved clinical reasoning and better targeting for preventative interventions. Previous studies have used single-country samples to identify limited sets of determinants for a limited number of proxy outcomes. The objective of this study was to identify and compare geriatric syndromes that influence the probability of postdischarge outcomes among older ED patients from a multinational context. Methods:A multinational prospective cohort study of ED patients aged 75 years or older was conducted. A total of 13 ED sites from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Iceland, India, and Sweden participated. Patients who were expected to die within 24 hours or did not speak the native language were excluded. Of the 2,475 patients approached for inclusion, 2,282 (92.2%) were enrolled. Patients were assessed at ED admission with the interRAI ED Contact Assessment, a geriatric ED assessment. Outcomes were examined for patients admitted to a hospital ward (62.9%, n = 1,436) or discharged to a community setting (34.0%, n = 775) after an ED visit. Overall, 3% of patients were lost to follow-up. Hospital length of stay (LOS) and discharge to higher level of care was recorded for patients admitted to a hospital ward. Any ED or hospital use within 28 days of discharge was recorded for patients

the FI-ED conformed to characteristics previously reported. A FI, developed and validated from a brief geriatric assessment tool could be used to identify ED patients at higher risk of adverse events.