TABLE 1.
Comparison of demographic and clinical characteristics of intervention and control groups
| Variable | Data for: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intervention group |
Control group |
Intervention vs control groups (P value)e |
||||
| Standard PCR (n = 953) | Rapid PCR (n = 1,209) | 2016 (n = 937) | 2017 (n = 1,102) | Standard PCR vs control 2016 | Rapid PCR vs control 2017 | |
| Female, n (%) | 480 (50.4) | 619 (51.2) | 473 (50.5) | 565 (51.3) | 0.96 | 0.97 |
| Age (yrs), median (IQR) | 75 (62–84) | 77 (65–86) | 75 (62–84) | 76 (64–84) | 0.97 | 0.11 |
| Hospital, n (%) | 0.94 | 0.58 | ||||
| A | 434 (45.5) | 672 (55.6) | 431 (46.0) | 589 (53.5) | ||
| B | 340 (35.7) | 205 (17.0) | 327 (34.9) | 198 (18.0) | ||
| C | 179 (18.8) | 332 (27.5) | 179 (19.1) | 315 (28.6) | ||
| Time of day of hospital admission, n (%) | <0.01 | 0.95 | ||||
| 7 a.m.–7 p.m. | 598 (62.8) | 866 (71.6) | 657 (70.1) | 788 (71.5) | ||
| 7 p.m.–7 a.m. | 355 (37.2) | 343 (28.4) | 280 (29.9) | 314 (28.5) | ||
| Day of week of admission, n (%) | 0.99 | 0.24 | ||||
| Weekdays | 700 (73.5) | 920 (76.1) | 688 (73.4) | 815 (74.0) | ||
| Weekends | 253 (26.5) | 289 (23.9) | 249 (26.6) | 287 (26.0) | ||
| Source of referral, n (%) | ||||||
| Emergency department | 926 (97.2) | 1,196 (98.9) | 874 (93.3) | 1,007 (91.4) | <0.01 | <0.01 |
| Othera | 27 (2.8) | 13 (1.1) | 63 (6.7) | 95 (8.6) | ||
| Intensive care admission, n (%) | 110 (11.5) | 113 (11.0) | 41 (4.4) | 52 (4.7) | <0.01 | <0.01 |
| Mode of separation, n (%) | 0.68 | 0.09 | ||||
| Discharged by hospital | 805 (84.5) | 972 (80.4) | 805 (85.9) | 924 (83.9) | ||
| Transferred/discharged at own risk | 110 (11.5) | 171 (14.1) | 98 (10.5) | 125 (11.3) | ||
| Died in hospital | 38 (4.0) | 66 (5.5) | 34 (3.6) | 53 (4.8) | ||
| Charlson comorbidity index, median (IQR) | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–2) | 0.01 | 0.13 |
| Principal diagnosis, n (%) | <0.01 | <0.01 | ||||
| Influenza and pneumonia | 527 (55.3) | 758 (62.7) | 276 (29.5) | 358 (32.5) | ||
| Chronic lower respiratory diseases | 229 (24.0) | 258 (21.3) | 293 (31.3) | 307 (27.9) | ||
| Acute upper respiratory infections | 53 (5.6) | 45 (3.7) | 75 (8.0) | 95 (8.6) | ||
| Other acute lower respiratory infectionsb | 70 (7.4) | 51 (4.2) | 64 (6.8) | 62 (5.6) | ||
| Lung diseases due to external agentsc | 36 (3.8) | 43 (3.6) | 97 (10.4) | 91 (8.3) | ||
| Other respiratory diseasesd | 38 (4.0) | 54 (4.5) | 132 (14.1) | 189 (17.2) | ||
a
Medical practitioner, outpatient, day procedure center, community health.
b
ICD-10-AM: J20 to J22.
c
ICD-10-AM: J60 to J70.
d
ICD-10-AM: J30 to J39; J85 to J84; J85 to J86; J90 to J94, and J95 to J99.
e
Comparisons were made using Pearson’s chi-square test for categorical variables and the Mann-Whitney test for continuous variables, and the P value shows the distribution of a given variable across groups.