Table 1.

Characteristics of patients at the emergency department (ED) categorized by time spent at the ED.

Factors	<8 hours  N = 214	≥8 hours  N = 58	P value
Male gender	88 (41.12)	27 (50.94)	0.196
Median age, years	42.5 (1–91)	67 (1–94)	<0.001
Types of health insurance			<0.001
Self-payment	94 (43.93)	9 (16.98)
Government insurance	85 (39.72)	40 (75.47)
Types of presenting to ER			<0.001
On their own	199 (92.99)	39 (73.58)
Consultation	10 (4.67)	13 (24.53)
Day presenting: Sunday	29 (13.55)	11 (20.75)	0.710
Times of presenting			0.515
08:00–16:00	74 (34.58)	18 (33.96)
16:01–24:00	77 (35.98)	23 (43.40)
00.01:–07:59	63 (29.44)	12 (22.64)
Patient triage categories			0.018
1	4 (1.87)	4 (7.55)
2	82 (38.32)	28 (52.83)
3	117 (54.67)	20 (37.74)
4	11 (5.14)	1 (1.89)
Comorbid diseases			<0.001
None	111 (51.87)	13 (24.53)
1	64 (29.91)	14 (26.42)
2	39 (18.22)	26 (49.06)
Consultation			<0.001
None	183 (85.51)	23 (43.40)
1 department	30 (14.02)	28 (52.83)
≥2 departments	1 (0.47)	2 (3.77)
Types of discharge			0.003
Home	185 (86.45)	36 (67.22)
Referred	7 (3.27)	2 (3.77)
Admitted	22 (10.28)	15 (28.30)
Blood testing			<0.001
None	134 (62.62)	3 (5.66)
1 round	65 (30.37)	11 (20.75)
≥2 rounds	15 (7.01)	39 (73.58)
General X-ray	56 (26.17)	40 (75.47)	<0.001
Computed tomography	7 (3.27)	8 (15.09)	0.003
Ultrasonography	1 (0.47)	4 (7.55)	0.006

Note. Patient category: disease severity; see details in text; data presented as numbers (percentage) unless indicated otherwise; P values were obtained by Wilcoxon rank-sum or Student's t-test and Fisher's exact tests or Chi-square test where appropriated; total numbers of patients in both groups may not be equal to 214 and 58, respectively, due to missing data.