TABLE 1—
Demographic and Medical Factors of Emergency Department Visits Occurring in Pre-, Inter-, and Posthurricane Periods: Schneider Regional Medical Center, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; June 2017–December 2017
| Prehurricane (n = 4804), No. (%) or Mean ±SD | Interhurricane (n = 957), No. (%) or Mean ±SD | Posthurricane (n = 4955), No. (%) or Mean ±SD | Total (n = 10 716), No. (%) or Mean ±SD | P | |
| Gendera,b | < .001 | ||||
| Female | 2160 (55.6) | 457 (48.4) | 1958 (48.6) | 4575 (51.6) | |
| Male | 1728 (44.4) | 487 (51.6) | 2069 (51.4) | 4284 (48.4) | |
| Age, ya,b,c | 40.8 ±23.6 | 46.6 ±23.9 | 43.1 ±24.0 | 42.4 ±23.8 | < .001 |
| Age groupsa,b,c | < .001 | ||||
| < 65 y | 3198 (82.3) | 702 (74.4) | 3197 (79.4) | 7097 (80.1) | |
| ≥ 65 y | 690 (17.7) | 242 (25.6) | 831 (20.6) | 1763 (19.9) | |
| Race/ethnicitya,b,c | < .001 | ||||
| Black | 2925 (75.2) | 715 (75.7) | 3009 (74.7) | 6649 (75.1) | |
| White | 469 (12.1) | 70 (7.4) | 439 (10.9) | 978 (11.0) | |
| Hispanic | 382 (9.8) | 92 (9.8) | 391 (9.7) | 865 (9.8) | |
| Other | 112 (2.9) | 67 (7.1) | 189 (4.7) | 368 (4.2) | |
| Origin of patienta,b,c | < .001 | ||||
| US Virgin Islands | 3596 (92.5) | 916 (97.0) | 3814 (94.7) | 8326 (94.0) | |
| Continental United States | 259 (6.6) | 20 (2.1) | 178 (4.4) | 457 (5.2) | |
| Other | 33 (0.8) | 8 (0.8) | 36 (0.9) | 77 (0.8) | |
| Insurance groupa,b,c | < .001 | ||||
| Medicaid | 1101 (28.3) | 176 (18.6) | 1032 (25.6) | 2309 (26.1) | |
| Medicare | 704 (18.1) | 248 (26.3) | 798 (19.8) | 1750 (19.8) | |
| Private or commercial | 998 (25.7) | 245 (26.0) | 900 (22.3) | 2143 (24.2) | |
| Self-pay | 988 (25.4) | 260 (27.5) | 1194 (29.6) | 2442 (27.6) | |
| Other | 97 (2.5) | 15 (1.6) | 104 (2.6) | 216 (2.4) | |
| Mode of arrivala,c | < .001 | ||||
| Walk-in | 3790 (85.5) | 895 (93.5) | 3911 (86.0) | 8596 (86.5) | |
| Ambulance | 593 (13.4) | 57 (6.0) | 583 (12.8) | 1233 (12.4) | |
| Police vehicle | 52 (1.2) | 5 (0.5) | 56 (1.2) | 113 (1.1) | |
| Triage priority levela | < .001 | ||||
| Critical–urgent (1–3) | 1929 (45.0) | . . . | 921 (26.6) | 2860 (36.9) | |
| Semiurgent (4) | 1966 (45.9) | . . . | 2133 (61.7) | 4101 (52.9) | |
| Nonurgent (5) | 289 (9.1) | . . . | 403 (11.7) | 796 (10.3) | |
| Dispositiona | < .001 | ||||
| Discharge home | 3698 (83.8) | . . . | 2151 (87.3) | 5865 (85.1) | |
| Admitted as inpatient | 534 (12.1) | . . . | 210 (8.5) | 744 (10.8) | |
| Other | 181 (4.1) | . . . | 104 (4.2) | 285 (4.1) | |
| ED length of stay, ha,b,c | 5.36 ±4.95 | 1.78 ±4.97 | 5.80 ±8.04 | 5.30 ±8.00 | < .001 |
Note. ED = emergency department. P values demonstrate comparison of frequency distributions between demographic variables by pre-, inter-, and posthurricane periods. The χ2 test was used for categorical variables; the student t test and analysis of variance test was used for continuous variables. Other insurance group includes veteran insurance, workers’ compensation, and unknown. Other race/ethnicity group includes Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian, American Indian/Native American, Filipino, Pacific Islander, unknown, and other. Hurricane periods: prehurricane (Jun 1, 2017–Sep 5, 2017); interhurricane (Sep 6, 2017–Sep 21, 2017); posthurricane (Sep 22, 2017–Dec 31, 2017).
Significant pairwise comparison (P < .05) between pre- and interhurricane periods.
Significant pairwise comparison (P < .05) between pre- and posthurricane periods.
Significant pairwise comparison (P < .05) between post- and interhurricane periods.