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ANALYSIS OF GERIATRIC OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGICAL EMERGENCIES

Buğra SUBAŞI 1, MD Mehmet VAROL 2, MD Nurullah TÜRE 3, MD Cemal AKSOY 4, MD Murtaza KAYA 5, MD
1Düzce Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Düzce, Türkiye
2Kütahya Şehir Hastanesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Hastalıkları Kliniği, Kütahya, Türkiye
3Kütahya Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı, Kütahya, Türkiye
4Kağızman Devlet Hastanesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Hastalıkları Kliniği, Kars, Türkiye
5Kütahya Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Acil Tıp Anabilim Dalı, Kütahya, Türkiye Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics of geriatric patients group presenting at the emergency department with complaints of ear, nose and throat (ENT) diseases.

Material and Methods: A retrospective examination was made of the files of 147 patients aged ≥65 years who presented at the emergency department of a tertiary healthcare institution between January 2022 and December 2022 and were referred by the emergency physician to the ENT outpatient clinic. The patients were evaluated in respect of age, gender, diagnosis, surgeries, ENT clinic and intensive care hospitalization, on- and off-duty applications, referral needs and the season of the year at the time of presentation.

Results: ENT consultation was requested for 147 (0.7%) of 18,972 geriatric patients who applied to the emergency department.The patients comprised 67 (45.6%) females and 80 (54.4%) males with a mean age of 71.7 years (range, 65-92 years). Presentations were out-of-hours in 82 (55.8%) cases, and during working hours in 65 (44.2%). The most common diagnoses were epistaxis (25.2%) and tracheotomy cannula problems (17.7%). The highest numbers of presentations were in the winter (30.6%) season. Surgery was performed on 24 patients. Of the total patients, 12 were admitted to the ENT ward and 14 to the intensive care unit. No patient needed referral to another healthcare centre.

Conclusions: ENT consultation was most frequently requested from the emergency department with the diagnosis of epistaxis. Knowing the characteristics of ENT emergency diseases in the geriatric age group will be of guidance in making an implementing the correct diagnosis and treatment approach. Keywords : Geriatrics, emergency, otorhinolaryngology, epistaxis