Table 2.
Utilization of emergency medical services among the cancer population in Taiwan
| Mortality group (n = 35477) | Survival group (n = 134794) | p -value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ED-visiting subjects | 23883 | 8889 | |
| Age, mean (S.D.) | 67.0 (14.4) | 59.5 (14.7) | <0.001 |
| Gender, n (%) | |||
| Female | 8332 (34.9) | 4403 (49.5) | <0.001 |
| Male | 15551 (65.1) | 4486 (50.5) | |
| Types of hospital, n (%) | |||
| Community hospital | 8980 (37.6) | 3138 (35.5) | <0.001 |
| Medical centers or local hos. | 14903 (62.4) | 5701 (64.5) | |
| ED hospitals with hospice, n (%) ward | |||
| No | 9332 (39.1) | 3366 (38.1) | 0.052 |
| Yes | 14551 (60.9) | 5473 (61.9) | |
| Location of hospital, n (%) | |||
| Rural | 3624 (15.2) | 1071 (12.1) | <0.001 |
| Urban | 20259 (84.8) | 7768 (87.9) | |
| Prevalence of ED visit (95% CI) | 67.25 (66.8-67.8) | 6.60 (6.5-6.7) | <0.001 |
| Admission after the ED visitsa, n (%) | 1160 (4.9) | 210 (2.4) | <0.001 |
| Distributions of ED visits triagesb | |||
| Level I, count(%) | 5647 (11.3) | 575 (4.3) | <0.001 |
| Level II, count(%) | 23521 (47.0) | 5508 (41.3) | |
| Level III, count(%) | 19444 (38.9) | 6892 (51.7) | |
| Level IV, count(%) | 1387 (2.8) | 366 (2.7) |
aMean of those admission days were shown in text; Medical Cost, averaged number of ED visiting times, and prevalence of ED visit were shown in the text.
bExcluding missing data, the distributions of traditional ED triaged were presented because a new 5-level triage scale had been proceed in Taiwan after 2010.