Emergency ambulance demand by older adults from rural and regional Victoria, Australia.

Objective: To describe the demographic profile and clinical case mix of older adults following calls for an emergency ambulance in rural Victoria, Australia. Methods: Retrospective cohort study using ambulance electronic patient care records from rural‐dwelling older adults (≥65 years old) who requested emergency ambulance attendance during 2017. Results: A total of 84 785 older adults requested emergency ambulance attendance, representing a rate of 278 per 1000 population aged ≥65 years. More than 10% of calls were to residential aged care homes. Medical complaints and trauma accounted for 69% and 18% of attendances, respectively. The predominant cause of trauma was ground‐level falls. Common reasons for call‐outs were for pain (17.5%), respiratory problems (9.7%) and cardiovascular problems (8.5%). Increased demand was associated with increasing age and winter months. Conclusions: Older adults from rural Victoria have high rates of emergency ambulance attendance and transportation to an emergency department, particularly with increasing age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]