Emergency Department Visits for Adults with Diabetes, 2010 - Statistical Brief #167

Emergency Department Visits for Adults with Diabetes, 2010 - Statistical Brief #167

February 18, 2014, Issue #413 AHRQ Stats In 2010, there were approximately 12.1 million diabetes-related emergency department (ED) visits for adults 18 years or older, which represented 9.4 percent of all adult ED visits. (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Statistical Brief #167: Emergency Department Visits for Adults with Diabetes, 2010.) Highlights In 2010, there were approximately 12.1 million diabetes-related ED visits for adults aged 18 years or older (515 per 10,000 U.S. population), or 9.4 percent of all ED visits. Most (57.9 percent) were treat-and-release visits. Diabetes-related ED visit rates were highest for patients aged 65 and older (1,307 per 10,000 U.S. population) compared with 45-64 year olds (584 per 10,000 U.S. population) and 18-44 year olds (183 per 10,000 U.S. population). Diabetes-related ED visit rates were higher among patients from the lowest income communities (526 per 10,000 U.S. population) than from the highest income communities (236 per 10,000 U.S. population). Government insurance (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid) was the primary expected payer for 68.7 percent of diabetes-related ED visits. There were approximately 675,000 diabetes-related ED visits that involved neurological complications, 409,000 ED visits with kidney complications, and 186,000 ED visits with eye complications. Diabetes with complications was the most common (6.4 percent) primary reason for ED visits among adults with diabetes, followed by nonspecific chest pain (5.6 percent) and congestive heart failure (3.3 percent).