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- Title
Epidemiology of Non-Emergent Cancer-Related Emergency Department Visits in Korea between 2016 and 2020.
- Authors
Sun Young Lee; Young Sun Ro; Sang Do Shin; Seong Jung Kim; Eujene Jung
- Abstract
Purpose: As people living with cancer increase in the aging society, cancer-related emergency department (ED) visits are also increasing. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiologic characteristics of non-emergent cancer-related ED visits using a nationwide ED database. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) database. All cancer-related ED visits between 2016 and 2020 were included. The study outcome was non-emergent ED visits, defined as patients triaged into non-emergent condition at both the time of arrival at ED and discharge from ED and were discharged without hospitalization. Results: Among 1185871 cancer-related ED visits over 5 years, 19.0% (n=225491) were classified as non-emergent visits. While abdominal pain and fever are the top chief complaints in both emergent and non-emergent visits, non-emergent visits had high proportions of abdomen distension (4.8%), ascite (2.4%), and pain in lower limb (2.0%) compared with emergent visits. The cancer types with a high proportion of non-emergent visits were thyroid (32.4%) and prostate cancer (30.4%). Adults compared with children or older adults, female, medical aid insurance, urban/rural ED, direct-in compared with transfer-in, and weekend visit were associated with high odds for non-emergent visits. Conclusion: Approximately 20% of cancer-related ED visits may be potentially non-emergent. A significant number of non-emergent patients visited the ED due to cancer-related symptoms. To improve the quality of care for people living with cancer, the expansion of supportive care resources besides of ED, including active symptom control, is necessary.
- Subjects
EMERGENCY room visits; HEALTH insurance; HOSPITAL emergency services; CARE of people; CANCER patients
- Publication
Yonsei Medical Journal, 2024, Vol 65, Issue 7, p418
- ISSN
0513-5796
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3349/ymj.2023.0338