Use of diagnostic tests in elderly patients consulting the emergency department. Analysis of the emergency department and elder needs cohort (EDEN-8).

Objective: Analyse the association between the use of diagnostic tests and the characteristics of older patients 65 years of age or more who consult the emergency department (ED).

Methods: We performed an analysis of the EDEN cohort that includes patients who consulted 52 Spanish EDs. The association of age, sex, and ageing characteristics with the use of diagnostic tests (blood tests, electrocardiogram (ECG), microbiological cultures, X-ray, computed tomography, ultrasound, invasive techniques) was studied.

Factors associated with short-term mortality after emergency department care of residents living in aged care homes: findings from the multicenter Caregency study.

Objectives: To evaluate short-term mortality in people transferred from aged care homes for treatment in a hospital emergency department (ED) and to analyze factors associated with mortality.

Material And Methods: Multicenter study of a random sample of retrospective data of patients treated in 5 EDs in Catalonia in 2017. The patients were over the age of 65 years and lived in residential care facilities.

Sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidity, and baseline functional status of older patients treated in emergency departments during the COVID-19 pandemic and associations with mortality: an analysis based on the EDENCOVID cohort.

Objectives: To describe the sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidity, and baseline functional status of patients aged 65 or older who came to hospital emergency departments (EDs) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to compare them with the findings for an earlier period to analyze factors of the index episode that were related to mortality.

Material And Methods: We studied data from the EDEN-COVID cohort (Emergency Department and Elder Needs During COVID-19) of patients aged 65 years or older treated in 40 Spanish EDs on 7 consecutive days. Nine sociodemographic variables, 18 comorbidities, and 7 function variables were registered and compared with the findings for the EDEN cohort of patients included with the same criteria and treated a year earlier in the same EDs.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital emergency departments: results of a survey of departments in 2020 - the Spanish ENCOVUR study.

Objectives: To estimate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the organization of Spanish hospital emergency departments (EDs). To explore differences between Spanish autonomous communities or according to hospital size and disease incidence in the area.

Material And Methods: Survey of the heads of 283 EDs in hospitals belonging to or affiliated with Spain's public health service.

Factors associated with in-hospital mortality and adverse outcomes during the vulnerable post-discharge phase after the first episode of acute heart failure: results of the NOVICA-2 study.

Objective: To identify patients at risk of in-hospital mortality and adverse outcomes during the vulnerable post-discharge period after the first acute heart failure episode (de novo AHF) attended at the emergency department.

Methods: This is a secondary review of de novo AHF patients included in the prospective, multicentre EAHFE (Epidemiology of Acute Heart Failure in Emergency Department) Registry. We included consecutive patients with de novo AHF, for whom 29 independent variables were recorded.

Editor's Choice- Impact of identifying precipitating factors on 30-day mortality in acute heart failure patients.

Background: The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and prognostic value of the most common triggering factors in acute heart failure.

Methods: Patients with acute heart failure from 41 Spanish emergency departments were recruited consecutively in three time periods between 2011 and 2016. Precipitating factors were classified as: (a) unrecognized; (b) infection; (c) atrial fibrillation; (d) anaemia; (e) hypertension; (f) acute coronary syndrome; (g) non-adherence; and (h) two or more precipitant factors.

Time-pattern of adverse outcomes after an infection-triggered acute heart failure decompensation and the influence of early antibiotic administration and hospitalisation: results of the PAPRICA-3 study.

Objective: To investigate whether patients with an acute heart failure (AHF) episode triggered by infection present different outcomes compared to patients with no trigger and the effects of early antibiotic administration (EAA) and hospitalisation.

Methods: Two groups were made according to the AHF trigger: infection (G1) or none identified (G2). The primary outcome was 13-week (91-days) all-cause mortality, and secondary outcomes were 13-week post-discharge mortality, readmission or combined endpoint.

Effect of Barthel Index on the Risk of Thirty-Day Mortality in Patients With Acute Heart Failure Attending the Emergency Department: A Cohort Study of Nine Thousand Ninety-Eight Patients From the Epidemiology of Acute Heart Failure in Emergency Departments Registry.

Study Objective: We assess the value of the Barthel Index (BI) in predicting 30-day mortality risk among patients with acute heart failure who are attending the emergency department (ED).

Methods: We selected 9,098 acute heart failure patients from the Acute Heart Failure in Emergency Departments registry who had BI score available both at baseline and the ED visit. Patients' data were collected from 41 Spanish hospitals during four 1- to 2-month periods between 2009 and 2016.

Impact of Frailty and Disability on 30-Day Mortality in Older Patients With Acute Heart Failure.

The objectives were to determine the impact of frailty and disability on 30-day mortality and whether the addition of these variables to HFRSS EFFECT risk score (FBI-EFFECT model) improves the short-term mortality predictive capacity of both HFRSS EFFECT and BI-EFFECT models in older patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) atended in the emergency department. We performed a retrospective analysis of OAK Registry including all consecutive patients ≥65 years old with ADHF attended in 3 Spanish emergency departments over 4 months. FBI-EFFECT model was developed by adjusting probabilities of HFRSS EFFECT risk categories according to the 6 groups (G1: non frail, no or mildly dependent; G2: frail, no or mildly dependent; G3: non frail, moderately dependent; G4: frail, moderately dependent; G5: severely dependent; G6: very severely dependent).

[Combined high-sensitivity copeptin and troponin T evaluation for the diagnosis of non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome in the emergency department].

Objectives: To assess the diagnostic yield of a high-sensitivity copeptin (hs-copep) assay alone or in combination with a high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnt) assay for the diagnosis of non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEMI) in patients with chest pain in the emergency department (ED). The secondary aim was to assess the 1-year prognostic utility of these biomarkers in this clinical context.

Material And Methods: Retrospective observational study of a series of patients attended for chest pain suggesting myocardial ischemia in 5 Spanish ED.

The Effect of Frailty on 30-day Mortality Risk in Older Patients With Acute Heart Failure Attended in the Emergency Department.

Objective: The objective was to determine the effect of frailty on risk of 30-day mortality in nonseverely disabled older patients with acute heart failure (AHF) attended in emergency departments (EDs).

Methodology: The Frailty-AHF Study is a retrospective analysis of a multicenter, observational, prospective, cohort study (Older-AHF Register). This study included consecutive patients ≥ 65 years of age without severe functional dependence or dementia attended for AHF in three Spanish EDs for 4 months.

Prognostic value and risk factors of delirium in emergency patients with decompensated heart failure.

Objective: Patients with heart failure (HF) seen at the emergency department (ED) are increasingly older and more likely to present delirium. Little is known, however, about the impact of this syndrome on outcome in these patients. We aimed to investigate the prognostic value and risk factors of delirium at admission (prevalent delirium) in ED patients with decompensated HF.