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Table 3 Characteristics of stroke patients whose time intervals exceeded emergency medical services (EMS) guidelines

From: Emergency medical services transport delays for suspected stroke and myocardial infarction patients

 

EMS 1

EMS 2

Time intervals

Total >60 min

Response >10 min

On-scene >15 min

Total >60 min

Response >10 min

On-scene >15 min

(n = 154)

(n = 231)

(n = 375)

(n = 84)

(n = 90)

(n = 212)

Age

      

 Mediana

75

75

77***

64***

63*

58*

 Medianb

74

74

73

53

53

51

Gender: # (%)

      

 Female

21(91.3)**

-

252 (67.2)

34 (43.6)

-

113 (53.3)

 Male

2 (8.7)

-

123 (32.8)

44 (56.4)

-

99 (46.7)

Specialty center: # (%)

      

 Yes

20 (87)*

-

260 (69.3)

65 (84.4)

-

27 (12.8)*

 No

3 (13)

-

115 (30.7)

12 (24.5)

-

184 (87.2)

Season: # (%)

      

 Fall

7 (30.4)

66 (28.6)

126 (33.6)

31 (39.7)

29 (43.3)*A

82 (38.7)

 Winter

9 (39.1)

59 (25.5)

101 (26.9)

12 (15.4)

4 (6.0)B

39 (18.4)

 Spring

2 (8.7)

50 (21.7)

67 (17.9)

15 (19.2)

9 (13.4)A,B

32 (15.1)

 Summer

5 (31.7)

56 (24.2)

81 (21.6)

20 (35.6)

25 (37.3)A

59 (27.8)

Dispatch reason: # (%)

      

 CVA/Stroke

21 (91.3)

212 (92.6)

338 (90.6)

10 (12.8)

9 (13.4)*B

21 (9.9)

 Unconscious

0 (0.0)

3 (1.3)

11 (3.0)

11 (14.1)

8 (11.9)B

49 (23.1)

 Seizure

0 (0.0)

1 (0.5)

2 (0.5)

11 (14.1)

6 (9.0)B

29 (13.7)

 Fall

0 (0.0)

2 (0.9)

2 (0.5)

7 (9.0)

8 (11.9)B

34 (16.0)

 Otherc

2 (8.7)

11 (4.8)

20 (5.4)

39 (50)

36 (53.7)A

79 (37.3)

  1. aMedian age of patients exceeding guidelines
  2. bMedian age of patients not exceeding guidelines
  3. cOther: altered mental status, weakness, dizziness, numbness, headache, unknown
  4. *p ≤0.05
  5. **p ≤ 0.01
  6. ***p ≤ 0.001
  7. -Comparisons not performed due to biological implausibility in association between the factors concerned
  8. A,B,C,DCategories with different letters are significantly (p < 0.05) different from each other while those with the same letters are not significant different from each