Table 2.
Characteristics of patients who were treated in Pediatric Cardiothoracic Program
| Characteristics | Peninsular Malaysia | East Malaysia | p – value b | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | (%) | n | (%) | ||||
| Total | 149 | (100) | 81 | (100) | |||
| Gender | |||||||
| Male | 86 | (57.7) | 38 | (46.9) | 0.129 | ||
| Female | 63 | (42.3) | 43 | (53.1) | |||
| Age | |||||||
| < 1 | 25 | (16.7) | 4 | (4.9) | 0.014 | ||
| 1 – 4 | 88 | (59.1) | 45 | (55.6) | |||
| 5 – 9 | 21 | (14.1) | 18 | (22.2) | |||
| 10 – 14 | 15 | (10.1) | 14 | (17.3) | |||
| Race | |||||||
| Malay | 105 | (70.5) | 37 | (45.7) | <0.001 | ||
| Chinese | 24 | (16.1) | 0 | (0) | |||
| Indian | 18 | (12.1) | 12 | (14.8) | |||
| Others | 2 | (1.3) | 32 | (39.5) | |||
| Monthly household income a | |||||||
| < RM 1500 (< USD 420) | 121 | (81.2) | 78 | (96.3) | <0.001 | ||
| RM 1500 – RM 3000 (USD 420 - USD 840) | 28 | (18.8) | 3 | (3.7) | |||
| Parents’ education background | |||||||
| Primary education | 121 | (81.2) | 78 | (96.3) | 0.004 | ||
| Secondary education | 23 | (15.4) | 3 | (3.7) | |||
| Tertiary education | 5 | (3.4) | 0 | (0) | |||
Government hospitals: Hospital Sultan Aminah Johor Bahru, Hospital Pulau Pinang, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, and Hospital Serdang were grouped under Peninsular Malaysia, while Hospital Umum Sarawak and Hospital Likas Sabah were grouped under East Malaysia.
a Based on the data from Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia, household income < RM1,500 is categorized as low income group.
b Fisher’s exact test