Table 2.

Characteristics of inappropriate use of emergency service. Pelotas, Brazil, 2004

Variables	N	Prevalence (%)	Crude PR (95% CI)	P
Shift during which the ER visit took place
Morning (7 am – 1 pm)	416	27.9	1.46 (1.02 – 2.10)	0.04
Afternoon (1 pm – 7 pm)	556	24.6	1.29 (0.90 – 1.85)	0.16
Night (7 pm – 1 am)	522	22.2	1.16 (0.81 – 1.68)	0.41
Daybreak (1 am – 7 am)	152	19.1	1.00
Time taken from the onset of symptoms to arrival in the ER				<0.001*
<1 day	670	14.8	1.00
1 – 10 days	777	30.2	2.04 (1.66 – 2.52)
11 days or more	198	32.3	2.18 (1.66 – 2.87)
Time in the waiting room				<0.001*
Up to 5 minutes	663	16.4	1.00
6 – 15 minutes	486	26.5	1.61 (1.29 – 2.03)
16 – 30 minutes	312	31.1	1.89 (1.49 – 2.40)
31 minutes or more	178	33.7	2.05 (1.57 – 2.68)

PR: prevalence ratio, ER: Emergency Room, CI: confidence interval, * Test for linear trend