Table 1.
Characteristics of ED encounters for primary otologic diagnosis, stratified by admission versus treatment and release (2009 to 2011).
| Weighted Frequency, %† (Standard Error) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | Total (N=8,611,282) |
Admitted* (N=157,876) |
Treated & Released (N=8,453,260) | P-Value** |
| Age category: | <0.0001 | |||
| 0–17 | 62.7% (0.5) | 15.4% (1.5) | 63.6% (0.5) | |
| 18–44 | 23.4% (0.3) | 12.1% (0.5) | 23.6% (0.3) | |
| 45–64 | 9.2% (0.2) | 25.7% (0.6) | 8.9% (0.2) | |
| >65 | 4.7% (0.1) | 46.9% (1.3) | 4.0% (0.1) | |
| Male gender | 47.9% (0.1) | 39.9% (0.4) | 48.0% (0.1) | <0.0001 |
| Year: | 0.5719 | |||
| 2009 | 34.2% (1.0) | 35.6% (2.1) | 34.2% (1.0) | |
| 2010 | 32.5% (1.0) | 33.3% (1.9) | 33.3% (1.0) | |
| 2011 | 33.3% (1.0) | 31.2% (1.5) | 32.5% (1.0) | |
| Patient’s residence: | <0.0001 | |||
| Large central, metropolitan | 26.0% (1.1) | 34.3% (1.8) | 25.9% (1.1) | |
| Large fringe, metropolitan | 20.6% (1.0) | 27.3% (1.4) | 20.5% (1.0) | |
| Medium metropolitan | 21.5% (1.0) | 16.2% (1.0) | 21.6% (1.0) | |
| Small metropolitan | 9.9% (0.7) | 9.2% (1.8) | 10.0% (0.7) | |
| Micropolitan | 13.3% (0.5) | 8.3% (0.5) | 13.4% (0.5) | |
| Other | 8.7% (0.3) | 4.8% (0.3) | 8.7% (0.3) | |
| Median household income: | <0.0001 | |||
| $1–$38,999 | 34.5% (0.8) | 24.3% (1.1) | 34.7% (0.9) | |
| $39,000–$47,999 | 30.2% (0.7) | 26.5% (1.6) | 30.3% (0.7) | |
| $48,000–$63,999 | 21.9% (0.6) | 25.2% (0.7) | 21.8% (0.6) | |
| $64,000 or more | 13.4% (0.5) | 24.1% (1.1) | 13.2% (0.5) | |
| Primary payer: | <0.0001 | |||
| Medicaid | 46.7% (0.6) | 15.8% (0.8) | 47.2% (0.6) | |
| Private Insurance | 28.9% (0.5) | 28.5% (1.1) | 28.9% (0.5) | |
| Self-pay | 14.0% (0.2) | 5.1% (0.3) | 14.2% (0.2) | |
| Medicare | 6.3% (0.1) | 47.3% (1.3) | 5.6% (0.1) | |
| Other | 3.6% (0.2) | 2.7% (0.3) | 3.6% (0.2) | |
| No charge | 0.5% (0.1) | 0.6% (0.1) | 0.5% (0.1) | |
| Weekend visit (Sat or Sun) | 33.2% (0.1) | 28.4% (0.3) | 33.3% (0.1) | <0.0001 |
| Injury diagnosis‡ (vs. non-injury) | 1.1% (0.02) | 3.3% (0.1) | 1.0% (0.1) | <0.0001 |
| Hospital trauma designation: | 0.0104 | |||
| Trauma level I or II | 23.8% (1.0) | 27.3% (1.4) | 23.7% (1.0) | |
| Non trauma or level III | 76.2% (1.0) | 72.7% (1.4) | 76.3% (1.0) | |
| Hospital teaching status: | <0.0001 | |||
| Non-teaching, Metropolitan | 42.5% (1.0) | 46.7% (1.9) | 42.4% (1.0) | |
| Teaching, Metropolitan | 35.9% (1.1) | 42.2% (1.7) | 35.8% (1.1) | |
| Non-metropolitan | 21.5% (0.6) | 11.1% (0.7) | 21.7% (0.6) | |
†
Some variables may not add to 100% due to missing data.
‡
Denotes injury-related diagnosis in the first or second diagnostic position in NEDS.
*
Admission data missing for 29 patients.
**
P-value denotes level of significance for comparison between admitted and discharged patients.
For independent variables with mutually exclusive categories, P-value denotes results of a chi-square test of independence.