European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
The association between presenting complaints and clinical outcomes in emergency department patients of different age categories.
Although aging societies in Western Europe use presenting complaints (PCs) in emergency departments (EDs) triage systems to determine the urgency and severity of the care demand, it is unclear whether their prognostic value is age-dependent. ⋯ Frequency of PCs in ED patients varies with age, but the same PCs occur in all age categories. For most PCs, (case-mix adjusted) hospitalization and mortality vary across age categories. 'Chest pain' and 'palpitations,' usually triaged 'very urgent', carry a low risk for hospitalization and mortality.