Characteristics of Emergency Department Visits Among Older Adults With Hearing Difficultly During the COVID19 Pandemic in the US

Abstract

Abstract Objective Hearing difficultly(HD) may be associated with an increased risk for emergency department(ED) visits among older adults.The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected adult healthy status. However, less is known about the characteristics of ED visits in older adults with hearing difficulty during the COVID-19 pandemic.this study is to assess the association between self-reported HD severity and ED visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods This population-based cross-sectional study used self-reported hearing difficulty and characteristics for respondents aged 65 years or older from 3 cycles of National Health Interview Survey from 2020 to 2022. Data were analyzed from February 23, 2023, to March 22, 2023.The main outcome was respondent-reported emergency department visits(including visited hospital emergency room and/or visited urgent care ) in the past 12 months. Generalized linear models were used to adjust for differences between the groups, and the associations between HD status and visit characteristics were expressed as rate ratios. Results The COVID19 Pandemic period, common reasons for HD visits included chronic pain (82.8%),fragile (77.9%),trouble falling/staying asleep (73.2%),hypertension (67.4%) ,and arthritis (60.1%)which were 1.5 times as likely compared with non-SRHD visits ( chronic pain: adjusted rate ratio [ARR], 1.64[95% CI, 1.44 to 1.93]; fragile: ARR, 1.57 [95% CI, 1.16 to 1.87]; trouble falling/staying asleep:ARR, 1.51[95% CI, 1.21 to 1.82]; hypertension: ARR, 1.01[95% CI, 0.92 to 1.23]; arthritis:ARR, 1.39[95% CI, 1.31 to 1.57] Conclusions In this cross-sectional study,older adults with hearing impairments were more likely to seek emergency visits for chronic pain,fragile,trouble falling/staying asleep, hypertension and arthritis than those without hearing impairments during the COVID-19 pandemic.