Table 2.
Hospital utilisation and presentations to emergency departments, decedents aged ≥70 years by age group (n = 34,566)
| All aged 70+ | Aged 70–79 | Aged 80–89 | Aged 90+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |
| n = 34,556 | n = 10,252 | n = 16,354 | n = 7950 | |
| Hospital utilisation | ||||
| ≥ 1 hospital episode (%) | 28,366 (82) | 8977 (88) | 13,686 (84) | 5703 (72) |
| - Excluding terminal episode (%) | 22,968 (66) | 7398 (72) | 11,091 (68) | 4479 (56) |
| Median no. of episodes (IQR) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (1–4) | 2 (1–3) | 1 (0–2) |
| > 3 hospital episodes | 7223 (21%) | 2995 (29%) | 3350 (20%) | 878 (11%) |
| Median days in hospital per person (IQR) | 17 (3–41) | 22 (5–47) | 18 (4–42) | 10 (0–31) |
| > 3 months in hospital (%) | 2296 (7) | 826 (8) | 1095 (7) | 375 (5) |
| Had hospitalisation > 30 days (%) | 7120 (21) | 2236 (22) | 3517 (22) | 1367 (17) |
| Spent time in ICU (%) | 3239 (9) | 1591 (16) | 1413 (9) | 235 (3) |
| - Excluding terminal episode (%) | 1443 (4) | 695 (7) | 627 (4) | 119 (1) |
| Restricted Palliative definitiona (%) | 4488 (13) | 2031 (20) | 1936 (12) | 521 (7) |
| Broader Palliative definitionb (%) | 7169 (21) | 3102 (30) | 3160 (19) | 907 (11) |
| For cancer deaths: | n = 8615 | n = 3932 | n = 3769 | n = 914 |
| At least one hospital episode (%) | 8165 (95) | 3792 (96) | 3571 (95) | 802 (88) |
| Median no. of episodes (IQR) | 3 (1–4) | 3 (2–5) | 2 (1–4) | 2 (1–3) |
| Median days in hospital (IQR) | 29 (13–51) | 31 (15–53) | 29 (13–51) | 22 (7–44) |
| Spent time in ICU (%) | 796 (9) | 470 (12) | 289 (8) | 37 (4) |
| Restricted Palliative definitiona (%) | 3093 (36) | 1610 (41) | 1263 (34) | 220 (24) |
| Broader Palliative definitionb (%) | 4673 (54) | 2397 (61) | 1936 (51) | 340 (37) |
| For non-cancer deaths: | n = 25,941 | n = 6320 | n = 12,585 | n = 7036 |
| At least one hospital episode (%) | 20,201 (78) | 5185 (82) | 10,115 (80) | 4901 (70) |
| Median no. of episodes (IQR) | 1 (1–3) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (1–3) | 1 (0–2) |
| Median days in hospital (IQR) | 13 (1–36) | 14 (2–42) | 14 (2–38) | 9 (0–29) |
| Spent time in ICU (%) | 2443 (9) | 1121 (18) | 1124 (9) | 198 (3) |
| Restricted Palliative definitiona (%) | 1395 (5) | 421 (7) | 673 (5) | 301 (4) |
| Broader Palliative definitionb (%) | 2496 (10) | 705 (11) | 1224 (10) | 567 (8) |
| Death recorded in inpatient setting (%) | 18,437 (53) | 6581 (64) | 8770 (54) | 3086 (39) |
| During terminal hospitalisationc | ||||
| Restricted Palliative care definition (%) | 3455 (19) | 1603 (24) | 1488 (17) | 364 (12) |
| Broader Palliative care definition (%) | 5485 (30) | 2433 (37) | 2399 (27) | 653 (21) |
| Spent time in ICU (%) | 1951 (11) | 985 (15) | 844 (10) | 122 (4) |
| ED presentationsd | n = 21,544 | n = 6291 | n = 10,269 | n = 4984 |
| At least one ED presentation (%) | 17,117 (79) | 5262 (84) | 8241 (80) | 3614 (73) |
| Median no. of presentations (IQR) | 1 (1–3) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (1–3) | 1 (0–2) |
| Ever referred to ED from an RACF (%) | 3663 (17) | 664 (11) | 1854 (18) | 1145 (23) |
| Dead on arrival at ED (%) | 534 (2) | 238 (4) | 243 (2) | 53 (1) |
| > 3 ED presentations (%) | 3615 (17) | 1278 (20) | 1751 (17) | 586 (12) |
| Amongst persons resident in RACF prior to death (n = 6872) | 1674 (24) | 402 (31) | 888 (26) | 384 (18) |
IQR interquartile range, ICU intensive care unit, ED emergency department, RACF residential aged care facility
aIncludes persons recorded as undergoing review by a specialist palliative care team or who were admitted to one of five stand-alone hospice/inpatient palliative care facilities in NSW
bPatients already captured in restricted definition, plus those referred to palliative care specialist teams or facilities, availing of a palliative care bed, and/or where service category/service-related group/diagnosis code indicated palliative care
cPercent of terminal episodes; does not include hospital deaths identified from the NSW Cancer Registry only
dFor people resident in the geographical area where recording of ED presentations was complete
Note: All p-values from a chi-squared test for differences across age groups were < 0.0001