Older people's use of pre-hospital emergency medical services in Izmir, Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the use of pre-hospital emergency medical services (EMS) in elderly people aged 65 years and over in Izmir, Turkey. In this descriptive study, older patients admitted to pre-hospital EMS of Izmir Province Health Directorate between 2004 and 2005 years was evaluated through the review of Emergency Call Registry Forms. The study data included socioeconomic characteristics, reasons of calling, distribution of calling times in the day, distribution of ambulance callers and preclinical diagnosis. A total of 34% of the subjects admitted to pre-hospital EMS were 65 years old and over. The rate of the use of ambulance services was 68.9/1000 population/year. The rate of pre-hospital EMS use for older persons living in urban areas was significantly higher than that of those living in rural areas. The most frequent pre-hospital EMS caller were persons in family (70.7%), and utilization of ambulance services was the highest in winter. Medically related incidents accounted for 89.1% of all emergency ambulance calls and cardiovascular diseases accounted for most common cause (32.6%) of calls. The utilization rate of pre-hospital EMS among older persons was approximately four times higher than that of the younger age groups.