Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T01:12:38.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Age-related Utilization of Advanced Life Support Services

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Steven A. Meador
Steven A. Meador*
Affiliation:
Division of Emergency Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University, The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pa., USA
*
Presented at the 6th Annual Conference of the National Association of Emergency Medical Services Physicians, at Houston, June 1990.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Purpose:

To investigate the relationship between age and Advanced Life Support (ALS) utilization.

Population:

All patients from 1 January 1987 to 31 December 1988 transported by ALS ambulances within Lebanon County, a rural/urban county of 112,000.

Methods:

All runs resulting in patient treatment by ALS personnel were tallied at five-year age intervals and sub-grouped by trauma- and non-trauma-related calls. Utilization rates for each age group were obtained by dividing the calls by the population of each group. Correlation with age was tested by Spearman's rank correlation. Treatment rates for age groups were calculated for the six most frequent medical etiologies. To illustrate the effect of age distributions, age rates were applied to projected state and national population distributions.

Results:

There was a significant correlation with age for all transports (p < .01; r=.93) and for those not related to trauma (p<.01; r=.98). Correlation was not detected for trauma-related responses (p>.10; r=.19). Non-trauma-related case incidence varied among age groups, ranging from 1.1/1,000 for age five through nine years to 89/1,000 for age 80–84 years. Congestive heart failure, cardiac ischemia, syncope, myocardial infarction, and cardiac arrest evidenced increased incidence with age. Seizure did not. Older populations had a higher projected utilization of ALS services than did the younger age groups.

Conclusion:

Non-trauma ALS utilization is highly dependent on the age of the patient. Due to projected aging of the population and increased utilization of ALS by the elderly, projected utilization will increase at a rate faster than will the population. Age:rate data can be combined with population projections to estimate future need.

Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 1991 , pp. 9 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Aldrich, CA, Hisserich, JC, Lave, LB: An analysis of the demand for emergency ambulance service in an urban area. Am J Public Health 1971;61:1156–1169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Schuman, LJ, Wolfe, H, Sepulveda, J: Estimating demand for emergency transportation. Med Care 1977;15:738–749.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Williams, PM, Shavlik, G: Geographic patterns and demographic correlates of paramedic runs in San Bernardino, 1977. Soc Sci & Med 1979;13D:273–279.Google Scholar
4. Kvalseth, TO, Deems, JM: Statistical models of the demand for emergency medical services in an urban area. Am J Public Health 1979;69:250–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Gerson, LW, Skvarch, L: Emergency medical service utilization by the elderly. Ann Emerg Med 1982;11:610–612.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Cadigan, RT, Bugarin, CE: Predicting demand for emergency ambulance service. Ann Emer Med 1989;18:618–621.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Projections of the Population of the United States, by Age, Sex, and Race: 1988 to 2080. U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census 1989; Series P-25, No. 1018.Google Scholar
8. Pennsylvania Population Estimates. Pennsylvania State Data Center, 1988; PSDC86-19–88.Google Scholar
9. Snedecor, GW, Cochran, WG. Statistical methods, 7th edition, 1980:191–193, Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa.Google Scholar
10. 1985 Pennsylvania Abstract: A Statistical Fact Book. 27th Edition, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Office of Economic Policy, Planning and Research.Google Scholar
11. Manolis, AS, Linzer, M, Salem, D, Estes, NAM: Syncope: Current diagnostic evaluation and management. Ann Intern Med 1990;12: 850–863.CrossRefGoogle Scholar