The Impact of Emergency Department Visits on Missed Outpatient Appointments: A Retrospective Study in a Hospital in Southern Italy.

ABSTRACT: Background/Objectives: Missed outpatient appointments contribute to care discontinuity and emergency department (ED) overcrowding. This study investigated the association between missed appointments and ED visits, identifying predictors such as patient characteristics, distance from the hospital, and waiting time. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted using a dataset of 749,450 scheduled outpatient appointments from adult patients (aged ≥ 18 years). Patients under 18 were excluded. We identified missed appointments and assessed their association with ED visits occurring in the same period. Descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests, and logistic and linear regression models were applied to examine predictors such as age, sex, distance from the hospital, waiting ti

SUBMITTER: Cerrone V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12300468 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature