Table 1.
Characteristics of the study population.
| Characteristics |
(n = 78,847) |
Early Elderly, Age 60–74 (n = 38,817) |
Late Elderly, Age 75–89 (n = 32,261) |
Longevous Elderly, 90 (n = 7769) |
p Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, years, median (Q1, Q3) | 75 (67, 84) | 67 (63, 70) | 82 (78, 85) | 92 (91, 95) | <0.001 |
| Male, n (%) | 37,211 (47.2) | 20,052 (51.7) | 14,535 (45.1) | 2624 (33.8) | <0.001 |
| Race, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Unknown | 1428 (1.8) | 654 (1.7) | 624 (1.9) | 150 (1.9) | |
| White | 57,429 (72.8) | 26,966 (69.5) | 24,167 (74.9) | 6296 (81) | |
| Black | 11,675 (14.8) | 6658 (17.2) | 4205 (13) | 812 (10.5) | |
| Hispanic | 3032 (3.8) | 1847 (4.8) | 1079 (3.3) | 106 (1.4) | |
| Asian | 2497 (3.2) | 1240 (3.2) | 1077 (3.3) | 180 (2.3) | |
| Other | 2786 (3.5) | 1452 (3.7) | 1109 (3.4) | 225 (2.9) | |
| Language-English, n (%) | 68,213 (86.5) | 34,919 (90) | 26,809 (83.1) | 6485 (83.5) | <0.001 |
| Insurance, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Unknown | 3,970 (5) | 2147 (5.5) | 1494 (4.6) | 329 (4.2) | |
| Medicare | 54,441 (69) | 20,920 (53.9) | 26,750 (82.9) | 6771 (87.2) | |
| Medicaid | 106 (0.1) | 72 (0.2) | 25 (0.1) | 9 (0.1) | |
| Other | 20,330 (25.8) | 15,678 (40.4) | 3992 (12.4) | 660 (8.5) | |
| Triage and acuity score, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Resuscitation | 12,565 (15.9) | 5870 (15.1) | 5323 (16.5) | 1372 (17.7) | |
| Emergent | 37,963 (48.1) | 18,430 (47.5) | 15,837 (49.1) | 3696 (47.6) | |
| Urgent | 28,095 (35.6) | 14,396 (37.1) | 11,013 (34.1) | 2686 (34.6) | |
| Less urgent | 217 (0.3) | 117 (0.3) | 86 (0.3) | 14 (0.2) | |
| Nonurgent | 7 (0) | 4 (0) | 2 (0) | 1 (0) | |
| Mode of transport, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| Unknown | 2312 (2.9) | 1127 (2.9) | 962 (3) | 223 (2.9) | |
| Walk-in | 32,888 (41.7) | 18,863 (48.6) | 11,953 (37.1) | 2072 (26.7) | |
| Ambulance | 43,215 (54.8) | 18,592 (47.9) | 19,178 (59.4) | 5445 (70.1) | |
| Helicopter | 340 (0.4) | 178 (0.5) | 143 (0.4) | 19 (0.2) | |
| Other | 92 (0.1) | 57 (0.1) | 25 (0.1) | 10 (0.1) | |
| ED waiting time, min, median (Q1, Q3) | 10 (6, 29) |
11 (6, 33) |
10 (5, 27) |
9 (5, 23) |
<0.001 |
| Length of stay in ED, min, median (Q1, Q3) | 366 (271, 495) |
370 (272, 503) |
360 (269, 488) |
363 (272, 487) |
<0.001 |
| Boarding time, min, median (Q1, Q3) | 143 (104, 219) |
145 (104, 223) |
141 (103, 214) |
144 (105, 218) |
<0.001 |
| Charlson score, n (%) | <0.001 | ||||
| 0 | 54,001 (68.5) | 26,713 (68.8) | 21,691 (67.2) | 5597 (72) | |
| 1 | 16,995 (21.6) | 7613 (19.6) | 7632 (23.7) | 1750 (22.5) | |
| 2 | 4271 (5.4) | 2192 (5.6) | 1757 (5.4) | 322 (4.1) | |
| >2 | 3580 (4.5) | 2299 (6) | 1181 (3.7) | 100 (1.4) | |
| Quality Assurance Issue (QAI), n (%) | 1960 (2.5) | 882 (2.3) | 859 (2.7) | 219 (2.8) | 0.001 |
| Patient Safety Events (PSE), n (%) | 129 (0.2) | 53 (0.1) | 60 (0.2) | 16 (0.2) | 0.167 |
| ICU admission, n (%) | 16,668 (21.1) | 7996 (20.6) | 7039 (21.8) | 1633 (21) | <0.001 |
| Death in hospital, n (%) | 2975 (3.8) | 1046 (2.7) | 1440 (4.5) | 489 (6.3) | <0.001 |
ED, emergency department; IQR, interquartile range.