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Table 1 Characteristics of self-referred study participants and EMS vs. non-EMS subgroups

From: Diverting less urgent utilizers of emergency medical services to primary care: is it feasible? Patient and morbidity characteristics from a cross-sectional multicenter study of self-referring respiratory emergency department consulters

Variable Measure Group p value for group difference
Total EMS non-EMS EMS vs. non-EMS
Participants n 292 99 188  
Demographics      
Age n 292 99 188  
  Mean (SD)
Median (Range) 		51.34 (18.89)
51.5 (18–96) 		62.56 (16.33)
66.0 (19–92) 		45.34 (17.46)
43.0 (18–96) 		 < 0.001
Sex n 292 99 188  
 Male % 51.4 57.6 47.3 0.10
 Female % 48.6 42.4 52.7
Migration and travel n 291 98 188  
 Migrant first generation % 26.8 11.2 35.1  < 0.001
 Second generation % 7.6 5.1 8.5
 Tourist % 6.5 3.1 8.5
Education (CASMIN) n 289 98 186  
 Low % 23.2 36.7 16.1  < 0.001
 Intermediate % 41.5 42.9 39.8
 High % 35.3 20.4 44.1
ED consultation      
Triage category n 284 96 183  
 Lower urgency % 43.3 22.9 54.1  < 0.001
 Higher urgency % 56.7 77.1 45.9
Time of presentation n 292 99 188  
 Out-of-hours visit % 23.6 33.3 18.1 0.004
 During office hours % 76.4 66.7 81.9
Symptom-associated distress n 277 93 180  
  Mean (SD)
Median (Range) 		7.29 (1.78)
7.5 (1.5–10) 		7.95 (1.64)
8.5 (2.0–10) 		6.96 (1.78)
7.0 (1.5–10) 		 < 0.001
Chronic conditions and care      
Chronic pulmonary condition n 291 99 187  
  % 57.7 81.8 44.4  < 0.001
Multimorbidity n 290 99 186  
  % 52.1 74.7 40.3  < 0.001
Attached to GP n 290 99 186  
  % 82.4 92.9 76.9  < 0.001
Mental health      
PHQ4 score n 291 98 188  
  Mean (SD)
Median (Range) 		4.03 (3.62)
3.0 (0–12) 		3.96 (3.72)
3.0 (0–12) 		4.07 (3.61)
3.0 (0–12) 		0.69
ED visit outcomes      
Diagnoses n 292 99 188  
 Pneumonia J12-J18 % 16.8 24.2 12.2 0.009
 COPD and chronic bronchitis
J40-J44 		% 32.9 54.5 20.7  < 0.001
 Asthma bronchiale J45-J46 % 12.0 7.1 14.4 0.07
 Other respiratory tract infection J09-J11, J20-J22 % 9.6 8.1 10.6 0.49
 Upper airway conditions J0x/J3x % 11.6 4.0 16.0 0.003
 Respiratory symptom diagnosis only (R section code) % 14.7 10.1 17.6 0.09
 Respiratory failure J96 % 17.8 36.4 7.4  < 0.001
Visit consequence n 292 99 188  
 Outpatients % 62.0 35.4 76.6  < 0.001
 Hospital admission % 38.0 64.6 23.4
Consultation motive categories n 292 99 188  
Distress % 69.9 74.7 66.5 0.20
Access % 30.8 17.2 37.8  < 0.001
Quality % 4.1 9.1 23.9 0.002
Convenience % 18.5 2.0 5.3 0.18
Potential primary care cases n 284 96 183  
 Meeting criteria % 29.6 9.4 40.1  < 0.001
  1. n = cases with available data for respective characteristic; % = percentage of cases with available data; Means of arrival unknown for n = 5 participants, thus not categorized into EMS/non-EMS; Migration and travel: first generation = not born in Germany, second generation = born in Germany and mother/father (or both) born in another country; Time of presentation: out-of-hours defined as between 6 pm and 8 am on weekdays, plus weekends and Wednesdays afternoons after 2 pm; Subjective symptom-associated distress: 0–10 scale; PHQ4: 0–12 scale; Chronic pulmonary condition: if either self-reported or documented in hospital records; Multimorbidity: two or more chronic conditions reported by patient; Diagnoses: ICD-10 codes, multiple diagnoses possible for individual cases.; Motive categories: multi-response data, n = 265 (90.8%) attested to one or more of the four motive categories, percentages in table refer to total of cohort/group; “Distress” motive: symptom severity and anxiety; “Access”: service–defined barriers to alternative care; “Quality”: expectations of better care in hospital; “Convenience”: comfort and ease of ED access; Statistical comparisons of groups: χ2 test for categorical and Mann–Whitney-U-test for continuous variables
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BMC Research Notes

ISSN: 1756-0500

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