Factors associated with the death of elderly in a reference emergency room for polytraumatism in Minas Gerais

Abstract

The paper describes the sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with the death of elderly patients treated at a reference emergency room for polytrauma patients in the state of Minas Gerais. It was developed with 11,306 elderly people and with logistic regression to verify the association between the dependent variable and the independent variables. It was concluded that of those assisted, 56.19% were discharged, 30.70% were transferred and 11.91% died. The groups most likely to evolve to death were: elderly males; 80 years and over; residents outside Belo Horizonte - MG; evaluated in the red color by the Manchester Classification and those victims of burns. Finally, the results showed the vulnerability of the elderly to traumatic and acute clinical events, which can culminate in possible injuries in this population group that already has limitations of the aging process.