Reasons for Emergency Department Visit, Outcomes, and Associated Factors of Oncologic Patients at Emergency Department of Jimma University Medical Centre

Abstract

Introduction: The number of oncologic patients visiting the emergency department (ED) is increasing and represent a challenge for the emergency team owing to they might have acute sign and symptoms of a still undiagnosed malignancy, management of treatment-related side effects, co-morbidities, and palliative care. Thus, this study was aimed to identify reasons for ED visits, management outcomes, and associated factors of oncologic patients. Patients and Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted from March 11, 2021 to August 25, 2021 at the ED of Jimma University Medical Center on a total of 338 oncologic patients. Data were collected from the patient and the patient’s medical record using a questionnaire developed from up-to-date similar literatures. The questionnaire was started filled out upon diagnosis of cancer and completed during discharge from the ED. The outcomes of the patients were dichotomized into died and survived then, it was analyzed using frequency and bivariate logistic regression. Results: The most common reasons for oncologic patients ED visit were neutropenic fever 79 (23.4%) followed by vomiting 38 (11.2%) and electrolyte abnormality 37 (10.9%) respectively. Among oncologic patients visited ED, 137 (40.5%) of them were admitted to ward and 126 (37.3%) of them were discharged with improvement while 64 (18.9%) of them were died. Based on multivariate logistic regression, those patients who had distant metastasis cancer (AOR 1.85; 95% CI 1.03–7.21), comorbidity (AOR 2.56; 95% CI 1.20, 6.96), and ECOG >3 (AOR 2.40; 95% CI 1.25,13.43) were more likely to die than their counterparts. Conclusion: Most of the oncologic patients visited ED due to neutropenic fever, nausea and or vomiting, and electrolyte disorder. Amongst oncologic patients who were visited ED, most of them were admitted to ward while around one-fifth of them were died. Having distant metastasis cancer, comorbidity and ECOG >3 were independent predictors of an oncologic patient’s outcome at the ED.