Abstract

As people live longer and fewer babies are born, the elderly became the fastest and largest growing population of the world, expected to increase further from 86 million in 2005 to 394 million in 2050 worldwide. Older patients represent a large bulk of the population arriving in emergency departments (EDs) all over the world.[1] They use hospitals more frequently than younger patients, have more hospital admissions from the ED and more prolonged hospital stays.[2] Elder abuse is defined as a single, or repeated, act which causes harm or distress to an older person and it can occur within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust from the elder person's perspective.[3,4] The ED setting is a particularly important environment being the first point of contact with formal services for the abused elderly population.[5] Careful consideration is demanded when older people attend the ED, with particular attention paid to assessment of subjective and objective data in terms of manifestations and potential indicators of abuse. There are no reliable elder abuse and neglect prevalence and incidence figures from Pakistan. There is also a lack of specific healthcare institutions and reporting systems for dealing with elder abuse in the country. In the present article we will be discussing the factors responsible for the ED presentation of elder abuse, reasons why such abuse is not reported and communication strategies that could be applied in screening for elder abuse.

Authors and Affiliations