A retrospective descriptive study of the characteristics of deliberate self-poisoning patients with single or repeat presentations to an Australian emergency medicine network in a one year period

Table 2 Characteristics of ED disposition, consultations and length of stay

	SPP	RPP	OR^¥	95% CI^¥
Number	755	321
ED Disposition
Home	453 (60.0)	187 (58.3)	0.89	0.64-1.23
ICU/HDU/CCU	54 (7.2)	18 (5.6)	0.77	0.44-1.34
Ventilated	37 (4.9)	8 (2.5)	0.50	0.23-1.08
General ward	86 (11.4)	40 (12.5)	1.11	0.74-1.65
Mental Health	99 (13.1)	38 (11.8)	0.90	0.60-1.34
Involuntary	32 (4.2)	13 (4.1)	0.95	0.49-1.84
Absconded	26 (3.4)	24 (7.5)	2.28	1.28-4.05
Self-discharge	25 (3.3)	12 (3.7)	1.13	0.56-2.28
Other	12 (1.6)	2 (0.6)	NT
Consultations
Psychiatric consult	457 (60.5)	193 (60.1)	0.98	0.75-1.28
Toxicology consult	205 (27.3)	37 (11.5)	0.35	0.24-0.51
LOS
ED^€ (hours)	6.5 [4.4-10.8]	7.2 [4.3-12.6]	1.02	0.99-1.06
Non critical care admission^§ (days)	1.9 [1.3-3.8]	1.8 [1.6-2.8]	0.85	0.70-1.04
Critical care admission^δ (days)	2.6 [1.8-3.9]	4.8 [2.5-5.9]	1.15	1.01-1.31

Data presented as number (%) or median [interquartile range]. ^¥Univariate logistic regression test of SPP versus RPP; ^€LOS in ED for patients discharged home from ED. ^§Total hospital LOS, including ED for patients admitted to a general ward; ^δTotal hospital LOS for patients requiring a critical care admission (CCCU/ICU/HDU), includes ED and ward stay post critical care.. SPP: Single poisoning presentation, RPP: Repeat poisoning presentation, ICU: Intensive care unit, HDU: High dependency unit, CCU: Coronary care unit, DSP: Deliberate self-poisoning, LOS: Length of stay, ED: Emergency department includes short-stay area, NT: Not tested.

ISSN: 1471-227X