Rivera DR, et al. - The intent of this study was to compute the proportion of US emergency department (ED) visits made by adults with a cancer diagnosis and to comprehend the clinical presentation of adult patients with cancer in the ED. Additionally, this research inspected the factors related to inpatient admission within the study cohort. It was determined that breast, prostate, and lung cancer were the most common cancer diagnoses presenting to the ED. This data was consistent with national prevalence statistics among adults. Pneumonia was found to be the most common reason for adult cancer–related ED visits, displaying high inpatient admission rate. Herein, the cancer-specific ED clinical presentations and the opportunity to inform the patient and system-directed prevention and management strategies were underscored.

Methods

• A scrutiny was performed of the nationally representative data including 7 survey cycles (January 2006-December 2012) from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample.
• The detection of adult (age ≥18 years) cancer-related visits was based on Clinical Classifications Software diagnoses documented during the ED visit.
• Weighted frequencies and proportions of ED visits were measured among adult patients with cancer by demographic, geographic, and clinical characteristics.
• Weighted multivariable logistic regression gauged the correlations between inpatient admission and key demographic and clinical variables for adult cancer–related ED visits.
• The main measure included adult cancer–related ED utilization patterns; identification of primary reason for ED visit; patient-related factors linked to the inpatient admission from the ED.

Results

• Out of an estimated 696 million weighted adult ED visits from January 2006 to December 2012, 29.5 million (4.2%) were made by a patient with a cancer diagnosis.
• Breast, prostate, and lung cancer, and most common primary reasons for visit were pneumonia (4.5%), nonspecific chest pain (3.7%), and urinary tract infection (3.2%) were discovered to be the most common cancers associated with an ED visit.
• Adult cancer-related ED visits reported frequent inpatient admissions (59.7%) than the non–cancer-related visits (16.3%) (P < .001).
• A connection was discovered between septicemia (odds ratio [OR], 91.2; 95% CI, 81.2-102.3) and intestinal obstruction (OR, 10.94; 95% CI, 10.6-11.4) with the highest odds of inpatient admission.