Factors associated with frequent use of emergency-department services in a geriatric population: a systematic review

Table 2 Variables associated with frequent ED visits

Variables	Details	Number of Studies Using this Variable	Number of Studies in Which the Variable Was Significant	References for Significant Studies
Healthcare-services use
Hospital admission	Past hospital admission	8	6	[20, 23,24,25,26,27]
Emergency department	Past ED visit	4	2	[20, 27]
Level of general practitioner’s workload	Low N of managed patients	1	1	[27]
	Low or moderate % of elderly managed	1	1	[27]
Other	Attitude towards health-service use	1	1	[25]
	More than one source of healthcare	1	1	[25]
Demographic
Age	Older age	8	3	[23, 24, 27]
Sex/gender	Being male	8	2	[21, 27]
Location	Rural residence adjacent to an urban center	2	2	[23, 24]
Location	ED within 10 km from place of residence	1	1	[27]
Socioeconomic
Social support	Lack of support	4	2	[20, 26]
Housing status	Living alone	5	1	[21]
Family status	Married Widowed	3	1	[20]
Income	Medicaid coverage	3	2	[23, 24]
Health status
Prescribed drugs	Number of drugs prescribed	3	2	[22, 27]
Mental illness	Depression	3	1	[20]
Alcohol consumption	Less than daily	1	1	[20]
Physical diseases	Heart disease	2	2	[20, 22]
	History of diabetes	1	1	[20]
	Respiratory disorder	1	1	[20]
	Pulmonary neoplasm	2	1	[22]
Number of conditions	Number of functional problems	2	1	[21]
Number of conditions	Number of active diseases	2	1	[22]
Measure of comorbidity	Case mix	2	2	[23, 24]
ED-discharge diagnosis	Digestive	3	1	[20]
Questionnaire score	Physical ability Per unit increase	1	1	[26]
	Anxiety Per unit increase	1	1	[26]
	Condition of partial or complete dependence (Activities of daily living)	2	1	[22]
	Score on the Identification of Seniors at Risk screening tool (ISAR)	1	1	[20]

ISSN: 1471-2318