Table 2.
Available data for each patient visit in the SEM cohort
| Type of data | Description and examples of variables/ variable groups | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline data | ||
| Basic and sociodemographic patient characteristics | Age, sex, country of birth, education, marital status, place of residence, income, welfare benefits etc. | [1] |
| Previous disease | Diagnoses (ICD10 codes) in the region during 5 years before ED visit | [8] |
| Previous tests | Diagnostic/ prognostic tests in the region during 5 years before the ED visit | [8], [9], [10], [11], [12] |
| Current medication | Prescriptions redeemed in Sweden during one year before ED visit | [2] |
| Data on the ED visit | ||
| Chief complaint | As defined by the RETTS system [11] | [7] |
| ED throughput times | ED arrival time and date, time to ED nurse, ED physician, ED length of stay, ED discharge time and date. | [6], [7] |
| Findings at the physical examination, vital signs | Free text, available by manual review of the patient records | [8] |
| Medications | Given at the ED (free text) and after the ED but within 24 h after ED presentation (digitized) | [8] |
| Diagnostic/prognostics tests | Performed within 24 h after ED presentation, including ECG, imaging, functional tests etc., with free text results | [8], [9], [10], [11], [12] |
| Disposition | Left without being seen, admission to in-hospital care. | [7] |
| Preliminary diagnosis/ assessment at the ED | ICD10 codes and free text | [8] |
| Outcome data | ||
| In-hospital admission ward | Name (and type) of in-hospital ward | [8] |
| Hospital length of stay | [8] | |
| Intensive care | Intensive care admissions/interventions within 30 days after ED presentation | [8] |
| Diagnoses | To the end of 2019 | [8] |
| Critical interventions/ treatments | Cardiac defibrillation, thrombolysis, percutaneous coronary intervention etc. to end of 2019 | [8] |
| ED returns | Re-presentations at ED up to end of 2019 | [7] |
| Hospital admissions | Admissions to in-hospital care and length of stay to end of 2019 | [3], [8] |
| Date of death | To end of 2019 | [4], [6] |
| Cause of death | To end of 2019 | [5] |
| Healthcare costs | Direct healthcare costs in the region within 30 days after the ED visit. | [13] |
SEM data sources
Registers and databases with national (Sweden) coverage
1. Statistics Sweden; [13] The LISA database, the Geography database
2. National Board of Health and Welfare; National Prescribed Drug Register [15, 23]
3. National Board of Health and Welfare; National Patient Register; [14, 24]
4. The Swedish population register [13]
5. National Board of Health and Welfare; National Cause of Death Register [16, 25]
6. Swedish emergency care register; SVAR [26–28]
Region Skåne registers and databases with complete regional coverage
7. The ED patient log system (Patientliggaren™, Tietoevry [12])
8. The electronic healthcare records (Melior™, Siemens [29]) and/or the Patient administrative system (PASIS)
9. The ECG-database (MUSE™, GE Healthcare [30])
10. The imaging and functional testing database (SECTRA [31])
11. The clinical chemistry database (LIMS RS)
12. The microbiology database
13. The healthcare economics system