Skip to main content

Table 1 Baseline Characteristics of Patients Presenting to the ED, Stratified by Depression, NHAMCS 2014–2016

From: Analysis of emergency department visits for all reasons by adults with depression in the United States

 Unweighted Sample (%)Weighted Sample (%)
AllNo DepressionDepressionAllNo DepressionDepression
42,83237,737 (88.1)5059 (11.9)278,699,057246,820,506 (88.6)31,878,551 (11.4)
Male*18,469 (43.1)16,649 (44.1)1820 (35.7)119,751,766 (43.0)109,011,905 (44.2)10,739,861 (33.7)
Age*
 18–3917,912 (41.8)16,085 (42.6)1827 (35.9)118,068,691 (42.4)106,669,971 (43.2)11,398,720 (35.8)
 40–496662 (15.6)5727 (15.2)935 (18.4)43,185,040 (15.5)37,429,025 (15.2)5,756,015 (18.1)
 50–596707 (15.7)5704 (15.1)1003 (19.7)42,679,091 (15.3)36,593,175 (14.8)6,085,916 (19.1)
 60–746678 (15.6)5807 (15.4)871 (17.1)43,420,164 (15.6)37,739,318 (15.3)5,680,845 (17.8)
  ≥ 754873 (11.4)4414 (11.7)459 (9.0)31,346,071 (11.2)28,389,016 (11.5)2,957,055 (9.3)
Race/ethnicity*
 White27,251 (63.6)23,546 (62.4)3705 (72.7)175,775,546 (63.1)152,171,847 (61.7)23,603,698 (74.0)
 Black9207 (21.5)8299 (22.0)908 (17.8)62,663,628 (22.5)57,104,372 (23.1)5,559,256 (17.4)
 Hispanic5152 (12.0)4754 (12.6)398 (7.8)33,391,671 (12.0)31,036,082 (12.6)2,355,589 (7.4)
 Asian804 (1.9)760 (2.0)44 (0.9)4,392,213 (1.6)4,221,497 (1.7)170,717 (0.5)
 Other418 (1.0)378 (1.0)40 (0.8)2,475,999 (0.9)2,286,708 (0.9)189,291 (0.6)
Residence type*
 Private residence39,819 (95.1)35,290 (95.6)4529 (91.3)258,354,513 (95.3)230,189,300 (95.7)28,165,213 (91.7)
 Nursing home885 (2.1)703 (1.9)182 (3.7)5,875,161 (2.2)4,597,878 (1.9)1,277,283 (4.2)
 Homeless534 (1.3)392 (1.1)142 (2.9)2,480,109 (0.9)1,835,949 (0.8)644,160 (2.1)
 Other651 (1.6)541 (1.5)110 (2.2)4,501,686 (1.7)3,885,684 (1.6)616,002 (2.0)
Insurance type*
 Private insurance12,446 (30.8)11,293 (31.7)1153 (23.9)79,443,111 (30.5)72,336,078 (31.3)7,107,033 (24.1)
 Medicare10,517 (26.0)8972 (25.2)1545 (32.1)66,956,323 (25.7)57,073,540 (24.7)9,882,783 (33.5)
 Medicaid or CHIP11,148 (27.6)9467 (26.6)1681 (34.9)71,529,605 (27.5)61,857,136 (26.8)9,672,469 (32.8)
 Uninsured4886 (12.1)4564 (12.8)322 (6.7)33,248,283 (12.8)31,145,408 (13.5)2,102,876 (7.1)
 Other1406 (3.5)1289 (3.6)117 (2.4)9,371,908 (3.6)8,660,813 (3.7)711,095 (2.4)
Year*
 201415,319 (35.8)13,677 (36.2)1642 (32.2)90,554,699 (32.5)81,304,754 (32.9)9,249,945 (29.0)
 201514,041 (32.8)12,364 (32.8)1677 (32.9)89,005,064 (31.9)78,981,947 (32.0)10,023,117 (31.4)
 201613,472 (31.5)11,696 (31.0)1776 (34.9)99,139,294 (35.6)86,533,805 (35.1)12,605,489 (39.5)
Day of ED Visit
 Sunday5622 (13.1)4964 (13.2)658 (12.9)35,918,011 (12.9)31,810,077 (12.9)4,107,933 (12.9)
 Monday6930 (16.2)6146 (16.3)784 (15.4)44,958,717 (16.1)39,878,806 (16.2)5,079,911 (15.9)
 Tuesday6347 (14.8)5614 (14.9)733 (14.4)40,922,676 (14.7)36,423,291 (14.8)4,499,385 (14.1)
 Wednesday6225 (14.5)5489 (14.5)736 (14.4)40,888,226 (14.7)36,088,222 (14.6)4,800,003 (15.1)
 Thursday5952 (13.9)5211 (13.8)741 (14.5)39,069,043 (14.0)34,301,499 (13.9)4,767,544 (15.0)
 Friday5960 (13.9)5253 (13.9)707 (13.9)38,869,467 (13.9)34,729,896 (14.1)4,139,571 (13.0)
 Saturday5796 (13.5)5060 (13.4)736 (14.4)38,072,918 (13.7)33,588,715 (13.6)4,484,203 (14.1)
Arrive by ambulance*7729 (18.5)6462 (17.6)1267 (25.4)49,769,047 (18.3)41,864,145 (17.4)7,904,902 (25.3)
Seen within last 72 h1914 (4.9)1668 (4.9)246 (5.3)11,953,039 (4.8)10,393,280 (4.7)1,559,759 (5.5)
Pain level at Presentation
 No pain7711 (24.4)6654 (23.8)1057 (28.5)46,478,004 (23.1)40,809,768 (22.9)5,668,235 (25.2)
 Mild2916 (9.2)2667 (9.5)249 (6.7)18,235,636 (9.1)16,637,092 (9.3)1,598,544 (7.1)
 Moderate9430 (29.8)8429 (30.2)1001 (27.0)60,509,861 (30.1)54,315,526 (30.4)6,194,335 (27.6)
 Severe11,602 (36.6)10,203 (36.5)1399 (37.7)75,762,102 (37.7)66,762,362 (37.4)8,999,740 (40.1)
Temperature at Presentation
  > 36 °C–38 °C38,083 (94.6)33,546 (94.7)4537 (94.4)249,171,894 (95.1)220,726,403 (95.1)28,445,491 (94.9)
  ≤ 36 °C1522 (3.8)1307 (3.7)215 (4.5)9,089,224 (3.5)7,856,127 (3.4)1,233,097 (4.1)
> 38 °C635 (1.6)581 (1.6)54 (1.1)3,863,922 (1.5)3,583,001 (1.5)280,921 (0.9)
Heart Rate at Presentation
  ≤ 9028,489 (66.5)25,321 (67.1)3168 (62.2)184,822,552 (66.3)164,924,803 (66.8)19,897,749 (62.4)
 90–1007169 (16.7)6203 (16.4)966 (19.0)46,314,663 (16.6)40,458,700 (16.4)5,855,963 (18.4)
 100–1103906 (9.1)3394 (9.0)512 (10.0)25,427,295 (9.1)22,226,080 (9.0)3,201,215 (10.0)
 110–1201988 (4.6)1723 (4.6)265 (5.2)13,118,183 (4.7)11,441,804 (4.6)1,676,379 (5.3)
  > 1201280 (3.0)1096 (2.9)184 (3.6)9,016,363 (3.2)7,769,119 (3.1)1,247,244 (3.9)
DBP at Presentation
 60–8019,358 (45.2)17,041 (45.2)2317 (45.5)125,677,278 (45.1)111,249,212 (45.1)14,428,067 (45.3)
  < 604312 (10.1)3791 (10.0)521 (10.2)26,198,088 (9.4)23,124,144 (9.4)3,073,944 (9.6)
  > 8019,162 (44.7)16,905 (44.8)2257 (44.3)126,823,690 (45.5)112,447,150 (45.6)14,376,540 (45.1)
SBP at Presentation
 80–1209773 (22.8)8509 (22.5)1264 (24.8)61,351,488 (22.0)53,148,943 (21.5)8,202,545 (25.7)
  < 801588 (3.7)1412 (3.7)176 (3.5)9,419,022 (3.4)8,412,329 (3.4)1,006,693 (3.2)
  > 12031,471 (73.5)27,816 (73.7)3655 (71.7)207,928,547 (74.6)185,259,235 (75.1)22,669,312 (71.1)
Census Region**
 Northeast7176 (16.8)6200 (16.4)976 (19.2)43,967,048 (15.8)38,060,463 (15.4)5,906,584 (18.5)
 Midwest10,893 (25.4)9337 (24.7)1556 (30.5)74,304,118 (26.7)63,492,646 (25.7)10,811,472 (33.9)
 South15,430 (36.0)13,862 (36.7)1568 (30.8)105,760,507 (37.9)95,725,338 (38.8)10,035,169 (31.5)
 West9333 (21.8)8338 (22.1)995 (19.5)54,667,385 (19.6)49,542,059 (20.1)5,125,326 (16.1)
ED Visit Classification**
 Injury/trauma12,286 (30.1)10,964 (30.5)1322 (27.3)78,178,483 (29.5)70,073,749 (29.8)8,104,734 (26.7)
 Overdose/poisoning499 (1.2)364 (1.0)135 (2.8)3,358,380 (1.3)2,574,059 (1.1)784,322 (2.6)
 Adverse effect of medical/surgical treatment1099 (2.7)949 (2.6)150 (3.1)7,170,683 (2.7)6,202,919 (2.6)967,764 (3.2)
 Visit not related to any above26,692 (65.4)23,506 (65.4)3186 (65.9)174,903,611 (66.0)154,777,524 (65.9)20,126,087 (66.4)
 Unknown Injury Status214 (0.5)170 (0.5)44 (0.9)1,546,669 (0.6)1,219,470 (0.5)327,199 (1.1)
  1. Note: the missing proportion for arrival mode, residency type, and injury is less than 5%; for insurance, temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure, and seen within last 72 h, 5–10%; for triage level, 27%; for pain level, 26%
  2. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01