Emergency Department Visits Among Adults Aged 60 and Over: United States, 2014-2017

Abstract

In the United States, the number of older adults is increasing. From 2007 to 2017, the number of adults aged 60 and over increased from 52 million to 71 million, and during the same time period, the share of the U.S. population comprising older adults also increased from 17% to 22% (1,2). During 2014-2017, 20% of all emergency department (ED) visits in the United States were made by patients aged 60 and over, representing an annual average of approximately 29 million ED visits (3-6). Given their growing proportion of the population, older individuals will make up an increasingly larger share of ED visits in the coming years. This report describes ED visits made by adults aged 60 and over, assessing selected characteristics by age.