The Elders (or Elderly) Risk Assessment (ERA) index can help to identify older patients in the community who may be at risk for hospitalization or visits to the emergency department. The index was developed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
Patient selection: older adult in the community (age > 60 years)
Parameters:
(1) age in years
(2) marital status
(3) number of days in the hospital during the past 2 years
(4) history of diabetes mellitus
(5) history of coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction or CHF
(6) history of stroke
(7) history of COPD
(8) history of cancer
(9) history of dementia
Parameter
Finding
Points
age in years
< 70 years
0
70 to 79 years
1
80 to 89 years
3
>= 90 years
7
marital status
married
-1
not married
0
number of days in hospital over past 2 years
0 days
0
1 to 5 days
5
>= 6 days
11
history of diabetes
no
0
yes
2
history of coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction or CHF
no
0
yes
3
history of stroke
no
0
yes
2
history of COPD
no
0
yes
5
history of cancer
no
0
yes
1
history of dementia
no
0
yes
3
total score =
= SUM(points for all 9 parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: -1
• maxium score: 34
• The higher the score the greater the risk for health problems.
Performance:
• An ERA index >= 5 had an area under the ROC curve of 0.55 for predicting 30-day readmissions (sensitivity 81%, specificity 34%)
To read more or access our algorithms and calculators, please log in or register.
