Elder Abuse and Associated Factors in Eastern Romania

Background: This article explores elder abuse in a hospitalised population. We wanted to identify details related to psychological and emotional abuse in the older population in our region and to determine the importance of the Elderly Abuse Suspicion Index (EASI ) in comprehensive geriatric assessments.

Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted between March 2015 and May 2016 included 386 consecutive hospitalised patients over 65 years of age. All patients underwent a geriatric assessment, data were collected about their medical history, and the EASI was administered to each. The main outcome was identifying the presence, the type of abuse and the factors associated with abuse.

Results: There were 21.5% of patients who suffered any form of abuse. Women were more frequently abused than men. Emotional abuse was the most common (60.2%) followed by neglect (53%) and physical abuse (22.91%); sexual abuse was absent in our study group. The abused patients had an impaired cognitive function (P = 0.034). They were also malnourished (P ≤ 0.001) and depressed (P = 0.001). The presence of peripheral artery disease, stroke, pneumonia, chronic kidney disease, musculoskeletal diseases and anxiety correlated with the presence of abuse. No statistically significant correlation was found between the degree of independence in instrumental activities of daily living and the presence of abuse (r = 0.105, P = 0.051).

Conclusions: EASI is a tool for detecting elder abuse and should be included in the standard geriatric assessment to prevent ageism. The number of abused elderly patients is significant, and the multiple factors associated with abuse are diverse.