Table 2.
Clinical characteristics of elderly patients admitted following an ED visit
| Week admissions N = 2114 |
Weekend admissions N = 629 |
|
|---|---|---|
| No. of admissions per triage level ** | ||
| Urgent (%) | 333 (15.8) | 126 (20.0) |
| Moderate (%) | 1165 (55.1) | 372 (59.1) |
| Low (%) | 603 (28.5) | 126 (20.0) |
| No triage (%) | 13 (0.6) | 5 (0.8) |
| ED diagnosis | ||
| Aspecific complaints (%) | 631 (29.8) | 189 (30.0) |
| Circulatory/respiratory (%) | 247 (11.7) | 66 (10.5) |
| Infectious (%) | 189 (8.9) | 65 (10.3) |
| Digestive (%) | 187 (8.8) | 67 (10.7) |
| Miscellaneous (%) | 187 (8.8) | 68 (10.8) |
| Neoplasm/haematological (%) | 186 (8.8) | 42 (6.7) |
| Endocrine/metabolic (%) | 174 (8.2) | 36 (5.7) |
| Genitourinary (%) | 146 (6.9) | 47 (7.5) |
| Unknown (%) | 167 (7.9) | 49 (7.8) |
| Initial vital signs, median (range) | ||
| Systolic pressure (mmHg) | 138 (64–270) | 137 (50–270) |
| Not measured (%) | 82 (3.9) | 16 (2.5) |
| Heart rate (min−1) | 84.0 (35–180) | 84.0 (46–200) |
| Not measured (%) | 404 (19.1) | 145 (23.1) |
| Laboratory, median (range) | ||
| No laboratory test (%) | 96 (4.5) | 25 (4.0) |
| CRP (mg/L) | 36.0 (0.1–674) | 39.0 (0.1–674) |
| CRP not measured (%) | 20 (0.9) | 3 (0.5) |
| Leucocytes (× 103/mm3) | 9.4 (0.2–239) | 9.2 (0.2–198) |
| Leucocytes not measured (%) | 11 (0.5) | 1 (0.2) |
P-values for week versus weekend admission, using the Chi-square test, unpaired t-test (normally distributed) or Mann-Whitney U test (not normally distributed). * = 0.001 < p < 0.05. ** = p < 0.001
SD standard deviation, CCI Charlson comorbidity index, ED emergency department, ED-LOS emergency department length of stay, LOS length of stay