Table 1. Baseline characteristics and demographics by eligible patients.
| Characteristics | Total | EMS (+) | EMS (-) | P value | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct | Transfer | Direct | Transfer | ||||||||
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | ||
| Total | 2,849 | 795 | 286 | 473 | 1,295 | ||||||
| Gender | |||||||||||
| Male | 1,179 | 41.4 | 311 | 39.1 | 126 | 44.1 | 199 | 42.1 | 543 | 41.9 | 0.428 |
| Female | 1,670 | 58.6 | 484 | 60.9 | 160 | 55.9 | 274 | 57.9 | 752 | 58.1 | |
| Age | 0.061 | ||||||||||
| ≤ 40 | 402 | 14.1 | 98 | 12.3 | 37 | 12.9 | 76 | 16.1 | 191 | 14.7 | |
| 41-60 | 1,544 | 54.2 | 413 | 51.9 | 153 | 53.5 | 255 | 53.9 | 723 | 55.8 | |
| 61- | 903 | 31.7 | 284 | 35.7 | 96 | 33.6 | 142 | 30.0 | 381 | 29.4 | |
| Median (IQR) | 53 (45-63) | 55 (46-66) | 54 (46-65) | 53 (45-63) | 52 (45-62) | < 0.001 | |||||
| Time symptom onset to destination hospital (min) | < 0.001 | ||||||||||
| Median (IQR) | 135 (60-297) | 45 (29-89) | 178.5 (119-358) | 117 (47-296) | 195 (120-385) | ||||||
| ED visit time | 0.025 | ||||||||||
| 6PM-6AM | 1,297 | 45.5 | 356 | 44.8 | 146 | 51.0 | 191 | 40.4 | 604 | 46.6 | |
| 6AM-6PM | 1,552 | 54.5 | 439 | 55.2 | 140 | 49.0 | 282 | 59.6 | 691 | 53.4 | |
| Week | 0.033 | ||||||||||
| Weekday | 2,061 | 72.3 | 557 | 70.1 | 205 | 71.7 | 328 | 69.3 | 971 | 75.0 | |
| Weekend | 788 | 27.7 | 238 | 29.9 | 81 | 28.3 | 145 | 30.7 | 324 | 25.0 | |
| Education | < 0.001 | ||||||||||
| < High school | 1,046 | 36.7 | 281 | 35.3 | 118 | 41.3 | 172 | 36.4 | 475 | 36.7 | |
| ≥ High school | 1,419 | 49.8 | 429 | 54.0 | 141 | 49.3 | 256 | 54.1 | 593 | 45.8 | |
| Unknown | 384 | 13.5 | 85 | 10.7 | 27 | 9.4 | 45 | 9.5 | 227 | 17.5 | |
| Health behavior | |||||||||||
| Exercise | 547 | 19.2 | 155 | 19.5 | 54 | 18.9 | 82 | 17.3 | 256 | 19.8 | 0.707 |
| Current smoker | 752 | 26.4 | 197 | 24.8 | 84 | 29.4 | 121 | 25.6 | 350 | 27.0 | 0.475 |
| Ex-smoker | 174 | 6.1 | 46 | 5.8 | 19 | 6.6 | 36 | 7.6 | 73 | 5.6 | |
| Alcohol | 982 | 34.5 | 258 | 32.5 | 122 | 42.7 | 145 | 30.7 | 457 | 35.3 | 0.004 |
| Past medical history | |||||||||||
| DM | 220 | 7.7 | 68 | 8.6 | 24 | 8.4 | 42 | 8.9 | 86 | 6.6 | 0.265 |
| Hypertension | 1,105 | 38.8 | 357 | 44.9 | 117 | 40.9 | 188 | 39.7 | 443 | 34.2 | < 0.001 |
| Dyslipidemia | 83 | 2.9 | 27 | 3.4 | 9 | 3.1 | 15 | 3.2 | 32 | 2.5 | 0.633 |
| Chronic kidney disease | 84 | 2.9 | 31 | 3.9 | 10 | 3.5 | 21 | 4.4 | 22 | 1.7 | 0.004 |
| Heart disease | 113 | 4.0 | 45 | 5.7 | 5 | 1.7 | 27 | 5.7 | 36 | 2.8 | < 0.001 |
| Stroke | 173 | 6.1 | 54 | 6.8 | 18 | 6.3 | 40 | 8.5 | 61 | 4.7 | 0.022 |
| Treatment | 0.119 | ||||||||||
| Coiling | 591 | 20.7 | 153 | 19.2 | 70 | 24.5 | 110 | 23.3 | 258 | 19.9 | |
| Post-stroke status | < 0.001 | ||||||||||
| No disability | 1,280 | 44.9 | 281 | 35.3 | 106 | 37.1 | 275 | 58.1 | 618 | 47.7 | |
| Disability | 807 | 28.3 | 210 | 26.4 | 58 | 20.3 | 133 | 28.1 | 406 | 31.4 | |
| Death | 762 | 26.7 | 304 | 38.2 | 122 | 42.7 | 65 | 13.7 | 271 | 20.9 | |
EMS, emergency medical service; ED, emergency department; DM, diabetes mellitus.