Risk of death rises sharply after an unplanned hospital visit

In older adults, an unexpected hospital admission was associated with an increased risk of death within five years after that visit. Looking at data on more than 922,000 Canadians aged 66 or older between 2007-2017, researchers found that 51% of those who died during the study had experienced an unplanned hospital admission — and of that group, 40% died within five years of the first such admission. In contrast, 13% died within five years of a planned hospital visit, and 11% died in the five years following a visit to the emergency department. In comparison, only 3% of those who had neither a hospital admission nor a trip to the ED died. Cancer and cardiovascular disease were the most common causes of death.