Table 2 Comparison of patients with unspecific versus specific ED diagnoses
Unspecific diagnosis (n = 100) | Specific diagnosis (n = 586) | p-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
At admittance | |||||
Age [median (IQR)] | 68.5 | (55.5–77) | 70.0 | (54–80) | 0.361 |
Gender [n (%) female] | 56 | (56) | 257 | (43.9) | 0.024 |
Private insurance, [n (%)] | 21 | (21) | 109 | (18.6) | 0.572 |
NSC, [n (%)] | 34 | (34) | 123 | (21) | 0.004 |
Time of admission, [n (%)] | 0.300 | ||||
Day (6 am – 5 pm) | 58 | (58) | 342 | (58.4) | |
Evening (5 pm – 10 pm) | 32 | (32) | 156 | (26.6) | |
Night (10 pm – 6 am) | 10 | (10) | 88 | (15) | |
Medication, [n (%)] | |||||
On antihypertensive therapy | 61 | (61.0) | 322 | (54.9) | 0.260 |
On diuretic therapy | 35 | (35.0) | 229 | (39.1) | 0.438 |
On antidiabetic therapy | 15 | (15.0) | 63 | (10.8) | 0.216 |
On antiepileptic therapy | 12 | (12.0) | 83 | (14.2) | 0.563 |
On psycholeptic therapy | 45 | (45.0) | 309 | (52.7) | 0.153 |
On antibiotic therapy | 32 | (32.0) | 287 | (49.0) | 0.002 |
On antithrombotic therapy | 73 | (73.0) | 444 | (75.8) | 0.553 |
In the ED | |||||
Triage category [n (%)] | 0.291 | ||||
Life-threatening | 3 | (3.0) | 34 | (5.8) | |
Urgent conditions | 39 | (39.0) | 247 | (42.2) | |
Semiurgent conditions | 57 | (57.0) | 282 | (48.1) | |
Nonurgent conditions | 1 | (1.0) | 19 | (3.2) | |
Follow-up | 0 | (0.0) | 4 | (0.7) | |
Resuscitation bay, [n (%)] | 5 | (5.0) | 66 | (11.3) | 0.057 |
Heart rate deviation, > 110/ < 50 bpm, [n (%)] | 5 | (5.0) | 73 | (12.5) | 0.030 |
Blood pressure deviation, < 90 mmHg, [n (%)] | 2 | (2.0) | 19 | (3.2) | 0.505 |
Laboratory findings, [median (IQR)] | |||||
Sodium, [mmol/L] | 137.0 | (133–139) | 137.0 | (134–140) | 0.153 |
Creatinine, [µmol/L] | 81.0 | (64.5–103) | 79.0 | (65–103) | 0.663 |
Hemoglobin, [g/L] | 126.0 | (110.5–137) | 126.5 | (108–139) | 0.920 |
Leucocyte count, [G/L] | 8.8 | (6.3–10.9) | 8.9 | (6.5–11.8) | 0.594 |
Diagnostic ED resources, ln-transformed [in tax points; median (IQR)] | 7.1 | (6.6–7.5) | 7.1 | (6.8–7.4) | 0.574 |
ED LOS [in hours; median (IQR)] | 6.75 | (5.4–8.3) | 6.2 | (4.6–7.8) | 0.036 |
Outcome | |||||
In-hospital mortality, [n (%)] | 5 | (5.0) | 29 | (4.9) | 0.983 |
Change in diagnosis, [n (%)] | 13 | (13.0) | 73 | (12.5) | 0.880 |
Hospital LOS [in days; median (IQR)] | 4.8 | (3–8.6) | 5.7 | (3.6–9.1) | 0.141 |