Last Updated: 2003-06-04 16:11:34 -0400 (Reuters Health)

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Americans are visiting hospital emergency rooms 20 percent more often than a decade ago, a trend the government said on Wednesday was due in part to the graying of the population.

An annual survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated 107.5 million such visits in 2001, up from about 90 million in 1992.

"This increase is due, in part, to overall population growth ... as well as an increase in older adults who tend to visit hospital emergency departments more often than younger people," the CDC said in a press release.

People 75 years and older were admitted to emergency rooms almost twice as often as other age groups, the study found.

The increase coincided with a 15 percent drop in the number of emergency room departments in the same period.

Injuries, poisoning, allergic reactions and complications from surgery accounted for more than a third of visits. The most common complaints were stomach and chest pain and fever.