How vital are the vital signs? a multi-center observational study from emergency departments of Pakistan

BMC Emergency Medicine

Table 4 Disposition of top ten presenting compliant patients with normal or abnormal vital signs (patients >12 years)

Presenting complaints	N	Vital sign available	Normal vital sign	Admitted	Abnormal vital sign	Admitted	P-Value***
		N (%)*	N (%)*	N (%)**	N (%)*	N (%)**
Fever	31554	16800 (53.2)	6347 (20.1)	139 (2.2)	10453 (33.1)	443 (4.2)	0.000
Injury (non-head/face/neck)	29695	5786 (19.5)	3280 (11.0)	297 (9.1)	2506 (8.4)	193 (7.7)	0.067
Abdominal pain	23170	15947 (68.8)	12014 (51.9)	252 (2.1)	3933 (17.0)	195 (5.0)	0.000
Chest pain	20130	9921 (49.3)	4931 (24.5)	545 (11.1)	4990 (24.8)	998 (20.0)	0.000
Injury (Head/face/neck)	13309	3175 (23.9)	1523 (11.4)	156 (10.2)	1652 (12.4)	187 (11.3)	0.329
Vomiting	10629	6586 (62.0)	4415 (41.5)	87 (2.0)	2171 (20.4)	95 (4.4)	0.000
Headache	9516	5380 (56.5)	3201 (33.6)	39 (1.2)	2179 (22.9)	53 (2.4)	0.001
Shortness of breath	8548	4915 (57.5)	3462 (40.5)	153 (4.4)	1453 (17.0)	250 (17.2)	0.000
Back pain	8239	6342 (77.0)	5206 (63.2)	17 (0.3)	1136 (13.8)	15 (1.3)	0.000
Diarrhea	5954	3725 (62.6)	2645 (44.4)	44 (1.7)	1080 (18.1)	54 (5.0)	0.000

Note: Abnormal vital sign include the presence of any of the following conditions: Abnormal shock index="shock index<0.5 or >0.7"; Low GCS="3≤GCS≤12"; Abnormal temperature="<36.5°C (97.8 °F) or > 38°C (100.4 °F)"; Abnormal RR="RR<12/min or >18/min"; Abnormal SpO₂ = "SpO₂ ≤94%"; Very high blood pressure="Systolic Blood Pressure >180 mm/Hg"
* %: The percentage of available vital sign, normal vital sign, and abnormal vital sign compare to total sample size of each presenting complaint
** %: The percentage of admitted patients within the number of patients with normal or abnormal vital sign
***: P-value of chi-squared test to compare admission between patients with normal vital signs and those with abnormal vital signs

ISSN: 1471-227X