Table 1 Characteristics of patients
Characteristics | Non-specific LBP (n = 3,358) | Radicular LBP (n = 523) | Serious LBP (n = 212) | All (n = 4,093) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Age, years – mean (SD) | 77.3 (8.1) | 76.3 (7.4) | 77.8 (8.0) | 77.2 (8.0) |
Sex, female – no. (%) | 1,960 (58.4) | 323 (61.8) | 101 (47.6) | 2,384 (58.3) |
Mode of arrival – no. (%) | ||||
Ambulance | 1,725 (51.4) | 181 (34.6) | 94 (44.3) | 2,000 (48.9) |
Self-presented | 1,633 (48.6) | 342 (65.4) | 118 (55.7) | 2,093 (51.1) |
Triage category – no. (%) | ||||
Life-threatening | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
Emergency | 77 (2.3) | 3 (0.6) | 8 (3.8) | 88 (2.1) |
Urgent | 1,491 (44.4) | 168 (32.1) | 105 (49.5) | 1,764 (43.1) |
Semi-urgent | 1,758 (52.3) | 344 (65.8) | 96 (45.3) | 2,198 (53.7) |
Non-urgent | 32 (1.0) | 8 (1.5) | 3 (1.4) | 43 (1.1) |
Emergency department LoS, hours – mean (SD) | 5.0 (3.3) | 4.2 (2.6) | 5.9 (4.8) | 5.0 (3.3) |
Discharge mode – no. (%) | ||||
Inpatient admission Discharged home | 1,144 (34.1) 2,214 (65.9) | 143 (27.3) 380 (72.7) | 110 (51.9) 102 (48.1) | 1,397 (34.1) 2,696 (65.9) |
Inpatient LoS, days – mean (SD) | 11.0 (13.6) | 9.4 (9.7) | 10.4 (11.8) | 10.8 (13.2) |
Abbreviations: ED: Emergency Department; LoS: length of stay; LBP: low back pain; SD: standard deviation | ||||