Box 1.
Baseline characteristics of 3741 patients who presented to four Sydney metropolitan emergency departments (EDs) and were tested for influenza and respiratory syncytial viruses with standard or rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) systems
| Characteristics |
Standard PCR (July–Dec 2016) |
Rapid PCR (July–Dec 2017) |
P |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of patients | 1491 | 2250 | |
| Sex (male) | 759 (50.9%) | 1103 (49.0%) | 0.26 |
| Age (years), median (IQR) | 53 (6–77) | 69 (41–82) | < 0.001 |
| Triage category | 0.68 | ||
| Resuscitation | 33 (2.2%) | 47 (2.1%) | |
| Emergency | 352 (23.6%) | 567 (25.2%) | |
| Urgent | 902 (60.5%) | 1314 (58.4%) | |
| Semi‐urgent | 198 (13.3%) | 309 (13.7%) | |
| Non‐urgent | 6 (0.4%) | 13 (0.6%) | |
| ED arrival: time | < 0.001 | ||
| 7 pm–7 am | 571 (38.3%) | 688 (30.6%) | |
| 7 am–7 pm | 920 (61.7%) | 1562 (69.4%) | |
| ED arrival: day of week | 0.16 | ||
| Weekday | 1082 (72.6%) | 1679 (74.6%) | |
| Weekend | 409 (27.4%) | 571 (25.4%) | |
| Mode of arrival | < 0.001 | ||
| Private/public transport | 920 (61.7%) | 1154 (51.3%) | |
| Ambulance/other | 571 (38.3%) | 1096 (48.7%) | |
| Emergency department | < 0.001 | ||
| A | 517 (34.7%) | 1173 (52.1%) | |
| B | 473 (31.7%) | 371 (16.5%) | |
| C | 199 (13.4%) | 553 (24.6%) | |
| D | 302 (20.2%) | 153 (6.8%) |
IQR = interquartile range. ◆
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