The American Geriatrics Society -

EXPERT AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT

New Study Finds Older Adults Account for One-third of all US Hospital Admissions and Are 5 Times More Likely to Die During Hospitalization

Expert with American Geriatrics Society's
"Geriatrics-for-Specialists Project" Available to Comment

The 12% of U.S. residents who are 65 and older account for roughly one-third of all hospital admissions, a major Federal study revealed this week.

In 2003, 13 million hospitalizations of adults 65 and older cost $329 billion, according to the Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research study.

The study also found that older adults who are hospitalized are five times more likely to die during hospitalization than younger patients.

Better preparing surgeons and other medical specialists to meet the unique health care needs of aging patients is the goal of The American Geriatrics Society's (AGS') "Geriatrics for Specialists" project. Funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, the project, among other things, aims to enhance the instruction in geriatrics that surgeons and other specialists receive. The 10 specialties participating in the project are: anesthesiology; emergency medicine; general surgery; gynecology; ophthalmology; orthopedic surgery; otolaryngology; physical medicine and rehabilitation; thoracic surgery and urology.

"Aging can complicate surgical care in many ways, and special training in the needs of geriatric patients can have a significant effect on patient outcomes," says Joseph LoCicero III, MD, FACS, Chair of the AGS Section of Surgical and Related Medical Specialists, which is in charge of the "Geriatrics for Specialists" project, and attending physician at the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center in Mobile, Alabama.

According to the agency study, adults 65 and older were most often hospitalized for congestive heart failure, pneumonia, coronary atherosclerosis, cardiac dysrhythmias, and acute myocardial infarction (or heart attack). Among older adults, the most common procedure was a blood transfusion, followed by diagnostic cardiac catheterization; upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and biopsy; respiratory intubation and mechanical ventilation; and percutaneous coronary angioplasty.

If you would like to speak with Dr. LoCicero about meeting older adults' unique needs during hospitalization or surgery, please contact Ivette Zamora on behalf of the American Geriatrics Society, at (203) 325-8772.