Each year, there are almost 1.4 million emergency room (ER) visits for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRDs), a new study found. Accidents and behavioral issues are the most common, which indicates that caregivers need more support, the authors say.
Data tracked ER visits made by older adults between 2016 and 2019, according to the study published earlier this month in JAMA Neurology. Of the 20,359,190 yearly visits to emergency departments (EDs), 1,378,940 were people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, or ADRDs. Among people over the age of 85, females and those with medical comorbidities were more likely to visit the hospital.
Accidents made up 7.9% of visits, while behavioral disturbances accounted for 7.4%. They were twice as likely as people without ADRDs to go to the emergency department for those reasons.
Authors of the study say that the fact that behavioral disturbances such as mixing up day and night and accidents could point to a challenge that caregivers have in managing behaviors. The ED isn’t the ideal setting to care for someone with Azheimer’s or dementia, so the findings show the need for better caregiver support, the authors said.
People with ADRDs had head computerized tomography scans, or CTs, and urine tests more commonly than those without ADRDs. The authors said that it may be difficult with people who have Alzheimer’s disease or dementia to communicate about their symptoms accurately. This could lead to unneeded testing, or differences in diagnostic testing to rule out reversible causes.
“When we see behaviors like this in patients with dementia, we think of them as communication,” Gerlach told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News on Tuesday. “Many patients lose or have difficulty verbally communicating their symptoms so we have to investigate what’s driving those behaviors.”
People with ADRDs also were more likely to get antipsychotic medicines and were less likely to get opioids than people without ADRDs. The use of antipsychotic medicines is concerning because taking them comes with a higher risk for dying, and the potential that the person will stay on it for a long time, the authors wrote.
“Although the emergency department is an important care location for an increasing number of patients with ADRDs, our findings highlight the need for better ways to evaluate and manage ADRD care in outpatient settings to reduce potentially avoidable and harmful visits,” the authors said in their report.
