Table 3.
Associations between cohort variables and long time from hospital arrival to treatment or to admission a
| Variable | Delayed treatment (> 60 min) | Long ED stay (> 5 h) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No, n = 135 (%) | Yes, n = 128 (%) | p | No, n = 173 (%) | Yes, n = 171 (%) | p | |
| Age, median (IQR) | 70 (62–77) | 72 (67–81) | 0.01 | 70 (62–77) | 71 (64–80) | 0.07 |
| Female sex | 51 (38) | 51 (40) | 0.73 | 62 (36) | 67 (39) | 0.52 |
| Charlson score, median (IQR) | 5 (3–7) | 5 (4–7) | 0.68 | 5 (3–7) | 5 (3–7) | 0.42 |
| COPD coded diagnosis | 121 (90) | 100 (78) | 0.01 | 150 (87) | 140 (82) | 0.22 |
| Prior COPD exacerbation | 103 (76) | 100 (78) | 0.72 | 110 (64) | 133 (78) | < 0.01 |
| Ambulance transfer | 65 (48) | 55 (43) | 0.40 | 56 (32) | 84 (49) | < 0.01 |
| O2 sat. < 91% | 88 (65) | 85 (66) | 0.84 | 97 (56) | 116 (68) | 0.03 |
| Shift (hours) | ||||||
| Day (07–15) | 69 (52) | 65 (51) | 0.60 | 85 (53) | 83 (49) | 0.62 |
| Evening (15–23) | 41 (31) | 45 (35) | 49 (30) | 60 (35) | ||
| Night (23–07) | 24 (18) | 18 (14) | 28 (17) | 27 (16) | ||
| Hospital LOS, days, median (IQR) | 4 (3–7) | 4 (3–7) | 0.90 | 4 (3–6) | 5 (3–7) | 0.01 |
Bold values indicate p-value < 0.05
COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ED emergency department, LOS length of stay, O2 oxygen
aTreatments include inhalations of short-acting bronchodilators, antibiotics and/or systemic steroids. If none of these treatments were administered the subject was excluded from the analysis of time to treat