Table 2.
Distribution of medical disputes and ascertained diagnostic errors (class I-IV) by age, gender, medical settings, specialty and involved organ system
| Characteristics | No. disputes | No. diagnostic errors | Percent of errors (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age, years | |||
| (0, 10) | 46 | 33 | 71.7 (58.7–84.8) |
| [10, 20) | 22 | 13 | 59.1 (38.6–79.6) |
| [20, 30) | 41 | 35 | 85.4 (74.6–96.2) |
| [30, 40) | 53 | 46 | 86.8 (77.7–95.9) |
| [40, 50) | 71 | 65 | 91.6 (85.1–98.0) |
| [50, 60) | 84 | 73 | 86.9 (79.7–94.1) |
| [60, 70) | 79 | 73 | 92.4 (86.6–98.3) |
| [70, 80) | 62 | 56 | 90.3 (82.9–97.7) |
| ≥ 80 | 24 | 22 | 91.7 (80.6–100.0) |
| Gender | |||
| Female | 186 | 162 | 87.1 (82.3–91.9) |
| Male | 296 | 254 | 85.8 (81.8–89.8) |
| Medical Settings | |||
| Tertiary | 298 | 251 | 84.2 (80.1–88.4) |
| Secondary | 157 | 141 | 89.8 (85.1–94.5) |
| Primary | 27 | 24 | 88.9 (70.8–97.7) |
| Specialty | |||
| Internal | 172 | 147 | 85.5 (80.2–90.7) |
| Surgery | 144 | 127 | 88.2 (82.9–93.5) |
| Emergency | 119 | 103 | 86.6 (80.4–92.7) |
| Pediatrics | 16 | 12 | 75.0 (53.8–96.2) |
| Obstetrics | 14 | 13 | 92.9 (79.4–100.0) |
| Other wardsa | 17 | 14 | 82.4 (64.2–100.0) |
| Organ systems | |||
| Circulatory | 151 | 132 | 87.4 (82.1–92.7) |
| Respiratory | 166 | 141 | 84.9 (79.5–90.4) |
| Digestive | 104 | 94 | 90.4 (84.7–96.1) |
| Central nervous | 37 | 28 | 75.7 (61.9–89.5) |
| Urogenital | 14 | 13 | 92.9 (79.4–100.0) |
| Other systemsb | 10 | 8 | 80.0 (55.2–100.0) |
aincludes departments of psychiatry (n = 8), eyes, ear, nose and throat (EENT, n = 7), dermatology (n = 1), traditional Chinese medicine (n = 1)
bincludes endocrinal and metabolic system (n = 6) and EENT system (n = 4)