Factors associated with external causes in elderly attended by the mobile emergency care service

Rev Gaucha Enferm. 2024 Mar 1:45:e20230005. doi: 10.1590/1983-1447.2024.20230005.en. eCollection 2024.
[Article in English, Portuguese]

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the prevalence and factors associated with external causes in elderly people attended by the mobile emergency care service.

Method: Cross-sectional study with 1,972 pre-hospital care records of elderly victims of external causes from 2019 to 2020. A descriptive and bivariate analysis was performed, with a significance level of 5% (p<0.05).

Results: The prevalence of external causes in elderly people attended by the mobile emergency service was 12.2%. Falling was the most frequent occurrence. The associations of the occurrence of falls with age from 90 years old (OR=29.31; p<0.001) and female gender (OR=5.38; p<0.001) stood out, as well as the suspicion of ingestion of alcoholic beverages with occurrence of violence (OR=4.17; p<0.001) and traffic accidents (OR=1.97; p<0.001).

Conclusion: The study showed factors associated with injuries due to external causes in theelderly and may support the formulation of coping strategies for this problem.

MeSH terms

  • Affect
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Causality
  • Coping Skills
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Emergency Medical Services*
  • Female
  • Humans