What is the prevalence of frequent attendance to emergency departments and what is the impact on emergency department utilisation? A systematic review and meta-analysis

AbstractPatients who frequently attend to emergency departments are a varying group and have complex health care needs. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine  the prevalence of patients who have frequent attendance to emergency departments. A systematic review was performed in line with PRISMA guidelines. A database search was conducted, and studies were included in the final review if they analysed a population of frequent attendance. Meta-analysis was performed only on population-based studies to estimate prevalence. The search yielded 2922 nonduplicate publications, of which 27 were included in the meta-analysis. The most common definition used for frequent attendance was greater than three presentations a year. The proportion of people who fre quently attended as a percentage of the total study population ranged from 0.01 to 20.9%, with emergency department presentations from frequent attenders ranging from 0.2 to 34%. When limiting the definition of frequent attendance to greater than three visits in a 12-month period, people who frequen tly attended contributed between 3 and 10% [pooled estimate 6%; CI 4–7%] of emergency department presentations and between 12 and 34% [pooled estimate 21%; CI 15–27%] of total emergency department presentations. Meta-analysis found substantial heterogeneity between estimates [I2 >  50%]. The prevalence of frequent attendance compared to the total population of patients seeking emergency care was small, b...
Source: Internal and Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Source Type: research