Table 1. Characteristics of pediatric patients by high-frequency emergency department utilization for asthma in the derivation set (n=47,128).
| State-wide Visits (index and non-index hospitals) |
Single-center Visits (index hospitals only) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-frequency utilization | High-frequency utilization | |||||
| Yes (n=1,202) |
No (n=45,926) |
Yes (n=922) |
No (n=46,206) |
|||
| n (%) | n (%) | p-value | n (%) | n (%) | p-value | |
| Age at index visit in years, median (IQR) | 8 (3-17) | 9 (4-15) | 0.89 | 7 (3-16) | 9 (4-15) | 0.03 |
| Sex | <0.001 | 0.01 | ||||
| Male | 594 (49) | 25,384 (55) | 470 (51) | 25,508 (55) | ||
| Female | 608 (51) | 20,542 (45) | 452 (49) | 20,698 (45) | ||
| Race/ethnicity | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| White | 182 (15) | 11,520 (25) | 128 (14) | 11,574 (25) | ||
| Black | 512 (43) | 16,146 (35) | 372 (40) | 16,286 (35) | ||
| Hispanic | 381 (32) | 11,732 (26) | 317 (34) | 11,796 (26) | ||
| Other | 127 (11) | 6,528 (14) | 105 (11) | 6,550 (14) | ||
| Median household income by patient ZIP code | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| <$39,000 | 702 (58) | 20,386 (44) | 544 (59) | 20,544 (45) | ||
| $39,000 - $47,999 | 196 (16) | 8,466 (18) | 156 (17) | 8,506 (18) | ||
| $48,000 - $62,999 | 167 (14) | 8,150 (18) | 133 (14) | 8,184 (18) | ||
| $63,000 and over | 137 (11) | 8,924 (19) | 89 (10) | 8,972 (19) | ||
| Primary expected payer | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| Public Insurance (Medicare/Medicaid) | 863 (72) | 26,012 (57) | 682 (74) | 26,193 (57) | ||
| Private Insurance | 209 (17) | 14,013 (31) | 154 (17) | 14,068 (30) | ||
| Self-pay | 113 (9) | 4,810 (10) | 74 (8) | 4,849 (10) | ||
| No charge/other | 17 (1) | 1,091 (2) | 12 (1) | 1,096 (2) | ||
| Any co-morbidity | 39 (3) | 952 (2) | 0.01 | 33 (4) | 958 (2) | 0.002 |
| Prior state-wide ED visits for any cause (≥ 4 ED visits) | 415 (35) | 3,088 (7) | <0.001 | 321 (35) | 3,182 (7) | <0.001 |
| Prior state-wide ED visits for asthma (≥ 4 ED visits) | 143 (12) | 302 (1) | <0.001 | 117 (13) | 328 (1) | <0.001 |
| Prior single-center ED visits for any cause (≥ 4 ED visits) | 320 (27) | 2,173 (5) | <0.001 | 278 (30) | 2,215 (5) | <0.001 |
| Prior single-center ED visits for asthma (≥ 4 ED visits) | 115 (10) | 236 (1) | <0.001 | 105 (11) | 246 (1) | <0.001 |
| Index visit months by quarter | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| January - March | 565 (47) | 13,823 (30) | 443 (48) | 13,945 (30) | ||
| April - June | 279 (23) | 11,672 (25) | 217 (24) | 11,734 (25) | ||
| July - September | 177 (15) | 8,931 (19) | 137 (15) | 8,971 (19) | ||
| October - December | 181 (15) | 11,500 (25) | 125 (14) | 11,556 (25) | ||
| Index visit time of presentation | 0.84 | 0.63 | ||||
| 1 am - 6 am | 123 (10) | 4,683 (10) | 89 (10) | 4,717 (10) | ||
| 7 am - 12 pm | 344 (29) | 12,617 (27) | 270 (29) | 12,691 (27) | ||
| 1 pm - 6 pm | 370 (31) | 14,347 (31) | 278 (30) | 14,439 (31) | ||
| 7 pm - 12 am | 365 (30) | 14,279 (31) | 285 (31) | 14,359 (31) | ||
| Day of index visit | 0.05 | 0.03 | ||||
| Monday - Friday | 893 (74) | 32,908 (72) | 691 (75) | 33,110 (72) | ||
| Saturday - Sunday | 309 (26) | 13,018 (28) | 231 (25) | 13,096 (28) | ||
| Disposition of patient at index visit | <0.001 | 0.01 | ||||
| routine discharge from hospital | 1,175 (98) | 44,899 (98) | 905 (98) | 45,169 (98) | ||
| transfers to other facility/hospital/home healthcare | 12 (1) | 820 (2) | - | - | ||
| left against medical advice | 15 (1) | 207 (0.5) | - | - | ||
| Other* | - | - | 17 (2) | 1,037 (2) | ||
| Time between visits from index to first visit in days | ||||||
| no visits after index | 0 (0) | 22,488 (49) | 0 (0) | 22,488 (49) | ||
| ≤ 3 | 141 (12) | 1,455 (3) | 110 (12) | 1,486 (3) | ||
| > 3 | 1,061 (88) | 21,983 (48) | 812 (88) | 22,232 (48) | ||
| Time between visits from index to first visit in days | ||||||
| no visits after index | 0 (0) | 22,488 (49) | 0 (0) | 22,488 (49) | ||
| ≤ 10 | 262 (22) | 2,713 (6) | 196 (21) | 2,779 (6) | ||
| > 10 | 940 (78) | 20,725 (45) | 726 (79) | 20,939 (45) | ||
Data presented as no. (%) unless otherwise noted. Percentage totals may not equal 100% because of rounding.
*
Includes transfers to other facility/hospital/home healthcare and left against medical advice. Categories combined in single-center dataset due to low cell counts for each group.
Abbreviations: ED, emergency department; IQR, inter-quartile range