Fig. 2

Delays of ACS management in Emergency Departments (EDs) (Tunisia). a The median duration between chest pain onset and EDs arrival was 2 h (IQR 2-4 h) for men and 3 h (IQR 2-4 h) for women (p= 0.013). This median duration was higher for the elderly [3 h (IQR:2-4 h)] than for younger patients [2 h (IQR:2-4 h)] (p=0.007) and among patients with UA/NSTEMI [2 h (IQR 1-4 h)] compared to STEMI [2 h (IQR1-3 h)] (p <0.001). b The median decision time (duration between ED admission and starting treatment) was 4 h (IQR: 2- 8 h) for all subgroups, for men and women (p=0.230). This duration increased with age to 3 h (IQR 2-5h) for 30 - 39-year olds, 4 hours (IQR 2-8 h) for 40 – 60-year olds, and 4 h (IQR 2-10 h) for the elderly (p<0.001). The median decision time was 2 h (IQR 0:10-8:30 h) for STEMI and 4 h (IQR 1:00-12:30 h) for UA/NSTEMI patients. c The median ED length of stay (LOS) was 1 hour (IQR 0-1) for regional hospitals and 8 hours (h) (IQR 4-18 h) for university EDs (p<0.001). The LOS in the ED was higher among woman (7 h; IQR: 3- 18 h) than men (6 h; IQR 2-13 h) (p= 0.036). The LOS increased significantly with increasing age; it was 4 hours (IQR: 2-9 h) for patients aged 30-39 years, 6 hours (IQR 2-13 h) for the 40 - 60 years group, and increased to 7 hours (IQR3-18 h) for patients over 60 years (p<0.001). Patients with STEMI had a short median LOS (2 h; (0-5 h) compared to those with UA/NSTEMI [8 h (IQR: 4-20 h)] (p<0.001)