Table 2.
Characteristics of patients undergoing non-clinical transfer compared with matched patients not undergoing transfer
| Non-clinical transfer patients (n = 759) | Matched patients not undergoing transfer (n = 1,518) | P valuea | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 55.7 (17.5) | 55.7 (17.7) | 0.99 |
| Sex | |||
| Female | 328 (43.2%) | 660 (43.5%) | 0.91 |
| Male | 431 (56.8%) | 858 (56.5%) | |
| Quintiles of IMD | |||
| 1 (least deprived) | 107 (14.1%) | 231 (15.2%) | 0.82 |
| 2 | 121 (15.9%) | 241 (15.9%) | |
| 3 | 140 (18.5%) | 297 (19.6%) | |
| 4 | 179 (23.6%) | 330 (21.7%) | |
| 5 (most deprived) | 212 (27.9%) | 419 (27.6%) | |
| Past medical history of one or more specified serious conditions | |||
| No | 629 (82.9%) | 1,278 (84.2%) | 0.42 |
| Yes | 130 (17.1%) | 240 (15.8%) | |
| Admission type | |||
| Unplanned local admission | 664 (87.5%) | 1,318 (86.8%) | 0.75 |
| Planned local medical admission | 7 (0.9%) | 10 (0.7%) | |
| Planned local surgical admission | 12 (1.6%) | 19 (1.3%) | |
| Unplanned transfer in | 35 (4.6%) | 90 (5.9%) | |
| Planned transfer in | 37 (4.9%) | 71 (4.7%) | |
| Repatriation | 4 (0.5%) | 10 (0.7%) | |
| Surgical status | |||
| Nonsurgical | 669 (88.1%) | 1,315 (88.6%) | 0.37 |
| Emergency/urgent | 73 (9.6%) | 174 (11.5%) | |
| Elective/scheduled | 17 (2.2%) | 29 (1.9%) | |
| Reason for admission by body system | |||
| Cardiovascular | 119 (15.7%) | 247 (16.3%) | 0.97 |
| Respiratory | 248 (32.7%) | 508 (33.5%) | |
| Neurological | 152 (20.0%) | 286 (18.8%) | |
| Gastrointestinal | 103 (13.6%) | 197 (13.0%) | |
| Genitourinary including renal | 50 (6.6%) | 98 (6.5%) | |
| Haematological/immunological | 10 (1.3%) | 25 (1.7%) | |
| Endocrine, metabolic, thermoregulation and poisoning | 51 (6.7%) | 108 (7.1%) | |
| Musculoskeletal | 17 (2.2%) | 26 (1.7%) | |
| Dermatological | 9 (1.2%) | 23 (1.5%) | |
| ICNARC Physiology Score | 20.1 (8.3) | 20.6 (7.8) | 0.31 |
Characteristics of patients undergoing non-clinical transfer within 48 hours of admission to critical care compared with matched patients not undergoing transfer. Data presented as n (%) or mean (standard deviation). ICNARC, Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre; IMD, Index of Multiple Deprivation. aChi-square test for categorical variables; Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for continuous variables.