Table 2 Demographic and ED utilization characteristics of subgroups of people with frequent ED visits (top 10%) and substance use in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C. (April 1st, 2014 to March 31st, 2015)
Characteristics | Ontario | Alberta | B.C | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Extreme (N = 2,669) | Moderate (N = 16,921) | Extreme (N = 1,468) | Moderate (N = 6,220) | Extreme (N = 1,690) | Moderate (N = 7,713) | |
Subgroup Characteristics (Selected Clustering Variables) | ||||||
Age (years) | ||||||
Median (IQR) | 36 (27–49) | 40 (27–54) | 38 (29–49) | 37 (27–50) | 45 (33–53) | 44 (31–56) |
Total number of ED visits | ||||||
Median (IQR) | 19 (13–28) | 5 (4–8) | 19 (15–27) | 6 (5–9) | 13 (10–20) | 4 (3–6) |
Number of alcohol-related ED visits | ||||||
Median (IQR) | 1 (0–7) | 0 (0–1) | 2 (0–7) | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–4) | 0 (0–1) |
Weighted Charlson Comorbidity Index | ||||||
Median (IQR) | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) |
Patient Characteristics (NACRS) | ||||||
Number of patients | 2,669 (13.6) | 16,921 (86.4) | 1,468 (19.1) | 6,220 (80.9) | 1,690 (18.0) | 7,713 (82.0) |
Sex, n (%) | ||||||
Male | 1,675 (62.8) | 10,434 (61.7) | 888 (60.5) | 3,791 (60.9) | 1,148 (67.9) | 4,774 (61.9) |
Female | 994 (37.2) | 6,487 (38.3) | 580 (39.5) | 2,429 (39.1) | 542 (32.1) | 2,939 (38.1) |
NA | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
Neighborhood income quintile, n (%) | ||||||
1st Quintile | 704 (26.4) | 4,391 (26.0) | 543 (37.0) | 2,272 (36.5) | 787 (46.6) | 2,880 (37.3) |
2nd Quintile | 518 (19.4) | 3,476 (20.5) | 188 (12.8) | 850 (13.7) | 285 (16.9) | 1,525 (19.8) |
3rd Quintile | 371 (13.9) | 2,944 (17.4) | 228 (15.5) | 1,242 (20.0) | 248 (14.7) | 1,238 (16.1) |
4th Quintile | 368 (13.8) | 2,673 (15.8) | 119 (8.1) | 662 (10.6) | 172 (10.2) | 1,024 (13.3) |
5th Quintile | 398 (14.9) | 2,731 (16.1) | 121 (8.2) | 584 (9.4) | 134 (7.9) | 795 (10.3) |
Unknown | 47 (1.8) | 156 (0.9) | 22 (2.2) | 157 (2.5) | 56 (3.3) | 188 (2.4) |
NA | 263 (9.9) | 550 (3.3) | 237 (16.1) | 453 (7.3) | 8 (0.5) | 63 (0.8) |
Urban/rural residence, n (%) | ||||||
Urban | 2,147 (80.4) | 13,832 (81.7) | 861 (58.7) | 4,091 (65.8) | 1,637 (96.9) | 7,224 (93.7) |
Rural | 259 (9.7) | 2,539 (15.0) | 370 (25.2) | 1,676 (26.9) | 42 (2.5) | 428 (5.5) |
NA | 263 (9.9) | 550 (3.3) | 237 (16.1) | 453 (7.3) | 11 (0.7) | 61 (0.8) |
ED Visit Characteristics (NACRS) | ||||||
Number of ED visits (for any reason) | 66,655 | 102,807 | 34,400 | 44,193 | 28,893 | 39,181 |
Arrival by ambulance among ED visits, n (%) | ||||||
Ground and/or air ambulance | 29,003 (43.5) | 35,630 (34.7) | 12,243 (35.6) | 13,637 (30.9) | 14,267 (49.4) | 15,192 (38.8) |
No ambulance | 37,652 (56.5) | 67,177 (65.3) | 22,157 (64.4) | 30,556 (69.1) | 14,626 (50.6) | 23,989 (61.2) |
Disposition group among ED visits, n (%) | ||||||
Discharged | 49,084 (73.6) | 70,767 (68.8) | 25,250 (73.4) | 31,602 (71.5) | 23,058 (79.8) | 28,729 (73.3) |
Left AMA | 8,099 (12.2) | 8,351 (8.1) | 5,052 (14.7) | 4,426 (10.0) | 635 (2.2) | 558 (1.4) |
Admitted/Transferred | 9,462 (14.2) | 23,642 (23) | 4,089 (11.9) | 8,155 (18.5) | 5,196 (18.0) | 9,882 (25.2) |
Died | 10 (0.0) | 47 (0.0) | 9 (0.0) | 10 (0.0) | < 5 (0.0) | 12 (0.0) |
NA | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
Substance-related diagnostic categories among ED visits, n (%) | ||||||
Alcohol | 14,937 (22.4) | 16,305 (15.9) | 7,562 (22.0) | 7,140 (16.2) | 5,623 (19.5) | 4,642 (11.8) |
Opioids | 1,343 (2.0) | 2,879 (2.8) | 538 (1.6) | 953 (2.2) | 475 (1.6) | 481 (1.2) |
Sedative/Hypnotics | 668 (1.0) | 1,579 (1.5) | 300 (0.9) | 577 (1.3) | < 5 (0.0) | < 5 (0.0) |
Stimulants, Cocaine, Psychoactive and Hallucinogens | 4,241 (6.4) | 4,584 (4.5) | 1,596 (4.6) | 2,086 (4.7) | 1,341 (4.6) | 1,201 (3.1) |
Other Substances | 248 (0.4) | 749 (0.7) | 67 (0.2) | 166 (0.4) | 67 (0.2) | 35 (0.1) |
Non substance-related visit | 45,218 (67.8) | 76,711 (74.6) | 24,337 (70.7) | 33,271 (75.3) | 21,385 (74) | 22,858 (58.3) |
NA | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 5,004 (17.3) | 9,962 (25.4) |
Top 3 ED diagnoses (ICD-10-CA) | ||||||
1 | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, acute intoxication (F100): 7,409 (11.1) | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, acute intoxication (F100): 4,648 (4.5) | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, acute intoxication (F100): 3,173 (9.2) | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, acute intoxication (F100): 1,968 (4.5) | Mental dis alcohol intoxicat (F100): 2,995 (10.4) | Mental dis alcohol intoxicat (F100): 2,144 (5.5) |
2 | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, harmful use (F101): 3,592 (5.4) | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, harmful use (F101): 4,037 (3.9) | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, harmful use (F101): 1,387 (4.0) | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, withdrawal state (F103): 1,546 (3.5) | Toxic effects ethanol (T510): 1,799 (6.2) | Toxic effects ethanol (T510): 1,734 (4.4) |
3 | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, withdrawal state (F103): 2,133 (3.2) | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, withdrawal state (F103): 3,771 (3.7) | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, withdrawal state (F103): 1,290 (3.8) | Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol, harmful use (F101): 1,455 (3.3) | Abdominal pain (R104): 1.231 (4.3) | Abdominal pain (R104): 1120 (2.9) |