Trends in Adult Cancer–Related Emergency Department Utilization

Abstract

There are currently an estimated 15.5 million people living with cancer or a history of cancer in the United States, and this number is expected to rise to 26.1 million by 2040.^1,2 The burden of cancer is associated with substantial health care resource utilization and cost. One measure of health care utilization is emergency department (ED) visits. According to the US Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) data from 2006 to 2012, there were an estimated 696 million total ED visits among adults 18 years or older in the general population, with an increase from 87 million visits in 2006 to 106 million visits in 2012.³ A 2006 to 2010 NEDS analysis of ED use among pediatric individuals (age 0-19 years) reported 294 289 cancer-related visits (0.2%) across the 5-year study period, with febrile neutropenia as the most common primary reason for visit.⁴ Unlike the US population with pediatric cancer, there is a paucity of information about ED use among adult individuals with a cancer diagnosis.