SAEMF/RAMS Resident Research Grant - $5,000

"Elder Mistreatment Radiographic Biomarkers in Emergency Department Patients With Rib Fractures"

Elder mistreatment affects 1 in 10 older adults. However, emergency physicians rarely identify or report elder mistreatment, in part due to lack of reliable tools to differentiate accidental vs non-accidental causes of injury or illness. Previous attempts to identify radiographic biomarkers of abuse in older adults have not been sensitive or specific and have not accounted for biomechanical contributors of fractures, including bone mineral density (BMD), age, and gender. This research represents an innovative collaboration between emergency medicine (EM) physicians, clinical radiologists, and forensic anthropologists to describe fracture patterns in older adults resulting from different mechanisms. This will lay the groundwork for developing a new objective tool to alert physicians to possible victims of elder mistreatment based on their radiographic findings.