Characteristics and outcomes of patients with dyspnoea as the main symptom, assessed by prehospital emergency nurses- a retrospective observational study

Table 1 Age, sex and previous history

	All patients	Women	Men		Missing
n	6354	3538	2816	All	Women	Men
Age - years
Mean (±SD)	72.9 (17.5)	73.3 (18.1)	72.5 (16.6)
Median (25th,75th percentile)	77 (66,86)	78 (67,86)	76 (66,85)
Previous history - n(%)
Dyspnoea	4971 (84.4)	2766 (84.0)	1.07 [0.89,1.29]^a	467	247	220
Pulmonary disease^b	2966 (47.5)	1762 (50.6)	0.76 [0.66,0.86]	116	59	57
Hypertension	2948 (46.5)	1718 (48.6)	0.82 [0.72,0.94]	8	5	3
Heart failure	1894 (30.0)	961 (27.4)	1.32 [1.15,1.52]	38	27	11
Atrial fibrillation	1838 (29.0)	945 (26.8)	1.27 [1.10,1.47]	14	8	6
Ischaemic heart disease	1642 (26.0)	785 (22.3)	1.54 [1.33,1.79]	40	16	24
Psychiatric disorder^c	1337 (21.2)	862 (24.5)	0.63 [0.53,0.74]	34	20	14
Cancer	1226 (19.4)	669 (19.0)	1.06 [0.90,1.25]	23	15	8
Diabetes	1190 (18.8)	550 (15.6)	1.60 [1.35,1.89]	12	7	5
Renal disease	759 (12.0)	310 (8.8)	1.97 [1.61,2.42]	12	8	4
System disease	393 (6.2)	286 (8.1)	0.45 [0.33,0.61]	17	12	5
Other disease^d	4412 (69.5)	2458 (69.6)	1.00 [0.87,1.15]	8	4	4

^aOdds ratio and 99% - confidence interval
^bChronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma bronchiale, other pulmonary disease
^cPanic disorder, anxiety disorder, depression, bipolar disease, schizofrenia, other psychiatric disorder
^dOther disease: e.g. peripheral vascular diseases, other heart conditions, previous pulmonary embolism

ISSN: 1471-227X