Relevance of Aging Issues in the Emergency Department

I. CLINICAL RELEVANCE A. Epidemiology 1. Demographics Emergency departments (EDs) throughout the country will be receiving and managing enormous numbers of older patients over the next 30 years. The older adult population is rapidly increasing throughout the world. It is anticipated that the population of people 60 years and older will increase by 60% in developed countries and by almost 160% in less developed regions over the next 30 years (1). In the United States, the current elderly population of 33 million (13%) will nearly double to 65 million (25%) by 2020 (2). More importantly, the most vulnerable elderly population (i.e., those who are 80 years and older) will be disproportionately increasing more rapidly than younger elderly persons.