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Objectives: To assess the frequency of diagnostic errors in older adults presenting to the emergency department (ED) with symptoms suggestive of Chikungunya virus infection (CVI) and to compare the rates of misdiagnosis of older and younger adults. Design: Cross‐sectional study performed in the University Hospitals of Martinique from retrospective cases. Setting: Emergency department. Participants: Individuals aged 65 and older who attended the ED and underwent reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) testing for CVI between January and December 2014 (n=333, mean age 80±8) were considered eligible and were compared with a randomly selected sample of younger adults (< 65) (n=143, mean age 45±13). Measurements: Misdiagnosis rates. Results: The rate of misdiagnosis of CVI in the ED was 30.6% in individuals aged 65 and older and 6.3% in those younger than 65 (p<.001). The overdiagnosis rate was 9.0% in individuals aged 65 and older and 3.5% in those younger than 65 (p=.04). The underdiagnosis rate was significantly higher (p<.001) in individuals aged 65 and older (21.6%) than in those younger than 65 (2.8%). Conclusion: Misdiagnosis of CVI during an epidemic is statistically more frequent in older than younger adults because clinical presentation is often atypical in older adults. Specific diagnostic tools for older adults and better awareness of ED physicians of different presentations in different age groups could help to reduce the rate of misdiagnosis of CVI in the ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives We aimed to determine whether the presentation of Chikungunya virus ( CHIKV) infection differs between older and younger adults with regard to clinical form during the acute phase defined by the World Health Organization: acute clinical, atypical, and severe acute. Design Cross-sectional, retrospective. Setting University Hospital of Martinique. Participants Individuals aged 65 and older (n = 267, mean age 80.4 ± 87.9) who attended the emergency department with a positive biological diagnosis of CHIKV (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) between January and December 2014 and a randomly selected sample of individuals younger than 65 (n = 109, mean age 46.2 ± 12.7). Results Typical presentation was present in 8.2% of older adults and 59.6% of younger individuals ( P < .001), atypical presentation in 29.6% of older adults and 5.6% of younger individuals ( P < .001), and severe presentation in 19.5% of older adults and 17.4% of younger individuals ( P = .65). One hundred fourteen (42.7%) of the older group and 19 (17.4%) of the younger group could not be classified in any category (absence of fever, absence of joint pain, or both) ( P < .001). Conclusion Only 8.2% of the older adults presenting in the acute phase of CHIKV have typical forms, suggesting that the most-frequent clinical presentation of CHIKV in older adults differs from that in younger individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]