• Stephanie Nothelle, Eric Slade, Junyi Zhou, Phillip D Magidson, Tanya Chotrani, Laura Prichett, Halima Amjad, Sarah Szanton, Cynthia M Boyd, and Jennifer L Wolff.
• Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Department of Medicine, Department of Medicne, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland. Electronic address: snothel1@jhmi.edu.
• Ann Emerg Med. 2024 May 1; 83 (5): 446456446-456.

Study ObjectiveThe emergency department (ED) poses unique challenges and risks to persons living with dementia. A longer ED length of stay is associated with the risk of death, delirium, and medication errors. We sought to determine whether ED length of stay differed by dementia status and trends in ED length of stay for persons living with dementia from 2014 to 2018 and whether persons living with dementia were at a higher risk for prolonged ED length of stay (defined as a length of stay > 90th percentile).MethodsIn this observational study, we used data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Emergency Department Database from Massachusetts, Arkansas, Arizona, and Florida. We included ED visits resulting in discharge for adults aged ≥65 years from 2014 to 2018. We used inverse probability weighting to create comparable groups of visits on the basis of dementia status. We used generalized linear models to estimate the mean difference in ED length of stay on the basis of dementia status and logistic regression to determine the odds of prolonged ED length of stay.ResultsWe included 1,039,497 ED visits (mean age: 83.5 years; 64% women; 78% White, 12% Hispanic). Compared with visits by persons without dementia, ED length of stay was 3.1 hours longer (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.0 to 3.3 hours) for persons living with dementia. Among the visits resulting in transfer, ED length of stay was on average 4.1 hours longer (95% CI 3.6 to 4.5 hours) for persons living with dementia. Visits by persons living with dementia were more likely to have a prolonged length of stay (risk difference 4.1%, 95% CI 3.9 to 4.4).ConclusionED visits were more than 3 hours longer for persons living with versus without dementia. Initiatives focused on optimizing ED care for persons living with dementia are needed.Copyright © 2023 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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