Table 1.
Characteristics of patients by area-level socioeconomic status (SES).
| Variable | Total | Affluent | Middle | Deprived | p | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | ||
| 13,637 | 4489 | 4615 | 4533 | ||||||
| Sex (female) | 7822 | 57.4 | 2637 | 58.7 | 2665 | 57.7 | 2520 | 55.6 | 0.01 |
| Age group (years) | <0.001 | ||||||||
| 19–40 | 352 | 2.58 | 141 | 3.14 | 126 | 2.73 | 85 | 1.88 | |
| 40–65 | 4290 | 31.5 | 1614 | 36.0 | 1471 | 31.9 | 1205 | 26.6 | |
| ≥65 | 8995 | 66.0 | 2734 | 60.9 | 3018 | 65.4 | 3243 | 71.5 | |
| Education level | <0.001 | ||||||||
| Below high school | 8228 | 60.3 | 2282 | 50.8 | 2615 | 56.7 | 3331 | 73.5 | |
| ≥High school graduate | 5409 | 39.7 | 2207 | 49.2 | 2000 | 43.3 | 1202 | 26.5 | |
| Occupation type | <0.001 | ||||||||
| Non-manual | 565 | 4.14 | 226 | 5.03 | 220 | 4.77 | 119 | 2.63 | |
| Manual | 3656 | 26.8 | 1138 | 25.4 | 1052 | 22.8 | 1466 | 32.3 | |
| Other | 1834 | 13.4 | 626 | 13.9 | 739 | 16.0 | 469 | 10.3 | |
| Inactive | 7582 | 55.6 | 2499 | 55.7 | 2604 | 56.4 | 2479 | 54.7 | |
| Insurance type | <0.001 | ||||||||
| National Health Insurance | 12,953 | 95.0 | 4322 | 96.3 | 4373 | 94.8 | 4258 | 93.9 | |
| Medicaid | 684 | 5.02 | 167 | 3.72 | 242 | 5.24 | 275 | 6.07 | |
| Past medical history | |||||||||
| Diabetes | 3521 | 25.8 | 1224 | 27.3 | 1245 | 27.0 | 1052 | 23.2 | <0.001 |
| Hypertension | 7985 | 58.6 | 2694 | 60.0 | 2760 | 59.8 | 2531 | 55.8 | <0.001 |
| Cardiovascular disease | 2689 | 19.7 | 879 | 19.6 | 978 | 21.2 | 832 | 18.4 | <0.001 |
| Exercise (yes) | 2673 | 19.6 | 972 | 21.7 | 984 | 21.3 | 717 | 15.8 | <0.001 |
| Smoker | 0.12 | ||||||||
| No | 8020 | 58.8 | 2646 | 58.9 | 2652 | 57.5 | 2722 | 60.0 | |
| Former | 2248 | 16.5 | 732 | 16.3 | 803 | 17.4 | 713 | 15.7 | |
| Current | 3369 | 24.7 | 1111 | 24.7 | 1160 | 25.1 | 1098 | 24.2 | |
| Alcohol consumption | 0.02 | ||||||||
| Never | 9320 | 68.3 | 2998 | 66.8 | 3200 | 69.3 | 3122 | 68.9 | |
| Yes | 4317 | 31.7 | 1491 | 33.2 | 1415 | 30.7 | 1411 | 31.1 | |
| Onset | 0.03 | ||||||||
| Day | 9105 | 66.8 | 3063 | 68.2 | 3037 | 65.8 | 3005 | 66.3 | |
| Night | 4532 | 33.2 | 1426 | 31.8 | 1578 | 34.2 | 1528 | 33.7 | |
| Loss of consciousness | 2237 | 16.4 | 654 | 14.6 | 723 | 15.7 | 860 | 19.0 | <0.001 |
| Recognition of symptoms | 11,319 | 83.0 | 3662 | 81.6 | 3767 | 81.6 | 3890 | 85.8 | <0.001 |
| EMS use | 9232 | 67.7 | 3014 | 67.1 | 2938 | 63.7 | 3280 | 72.4 | <0.001 |
| Interhospital transfer | 4052 | 29.7 | 1086 | 24.2 | 1032 | 22.4 | 1934 | 42.7 | <0.001 |
| Prehospital delay | 8096 | 59.4 | 2557 | 57.0 | 2699 | 58.5 | 2840 | 62.7 | <0.001 |
| ED outcome | <0.001 | ||||||||
| Discharge | 264 | 1.94 | 78 | 1.74 | 112 | 2.43 | 74 | 1.63 | |
| Transfer | 417 | 3.06 | 85 | 1.89 | 109 | 2.36 | 223 | 4.92 | |
| Admission | 12,916 | 94.7 | 4314 | 96.1 | 4383 | 95.0 | 4219 | 93.1 | |
| Death | 27 | 0.20 | 7 | 0.16 | 6 | 0.13 | 14 | 0.31 | |
| Unknown | 13 | 0.10 | 5 | 0.11 | 5 | 0.11 | 3 | 0.07 | |
| Residence | <0.001 | ||||||||
| Urban | 8463 | 62.1 | 3637 | 81.0 | 3519 | 76.3 | 1307 | 28.8 | |
| Rural | 5174 | 37.9 | 852 | 19.0 | 1096 | 23.7 | 3226 | 71.2 | |
Abbreviations: ED—emergency department; EMS—emergency medical service. The p-values were calculated using the chi-squared test.