Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of 21 934 emergency department visits
| Characteristic | Number of visits (%) |
|---|---|
| Gender | |
| Male | 21 253 (96.9%) |
| Female | 681 (3.1%) |
| Age group in years | |
| <50 | 4873 (22.2%) |
| 50–65 | 10 380 (47.3%) |
| 65 + | 6681 (30.5%) |
| Race/ethnicity | |
| White, not hispanic | 13 869 (63.2%) |
| Black, not hispanic | 6042 (27.6%) |
| Hispanic/other | 2023 (9.2%) |
| Duration of injury in years | |
| <10 | 5138 (23.4%) |
| 10–20 | 2714 (12.4%) |
| 20 + | 5225 (23.8%) |
| Duration of injury unknown | 8857 (40.4%) |
| Level of injury | |
| Tetraplegia | 8260 (37.7%) |
| Paraplegia | 11 979 (54.6%) |
| Level of injury unknown | 1695 (7.7%) |
| Type of facility | |
| VA SCI Specialty Center | 8842 (40.3%) |
| VA Non-SCI Center | 13 092 (59.7%) |
| Comorbidity within 90 days of visit | |
| Yes | 13 187 (60.1 %) |
| No | 8747 (39.9%) |
| Number of sites of infection | |
| 0 | 17 511 (79.8%) |
| 1 | 4320 (19.7%) |
| 2 + | 103 (0.5%) |
| Types of infections | |
| Lower respiratory infection | 282 (1.3%) |
| Pneumonia | 275 (1.3%) |
| Septicemia | 17 (0.1%) |
| Upper respiratory infection | 485 (2.2%) |
| Urinary tract infection | 3379 (15.4%) |
| Cellulitis | 411 (1.9%) |
| Geographic region | |
| Northeast | 2192 (10.0%) |
| Midwest | 3127 (14.3%) |
| South | 12 710 (57.9%) |
| West | 3905 (17.8%) |