Table 1.
Baseline demographic, health, crash and injury-related characteristics by length of hospital stay
| Length of hospital stay | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| <=1 day (n = 1304) | 2–6 days (n = 507) | 7 days or more (n = 207) | ||
|
Mean (SD) or n (%) |
Mean (SD) or n (%) |
Mean (SD) or n (%) |
P value | |
| Self-reported days in hospital (mean, SD) | 0.24 (0.43) | 3.5 (1.3) | 12.9 (6.6) | NA |
| Age (mean, SD) | 39.7 (15.6) | 43.1 (17.3) | 45.5 (18.2) | < 0.0001 |
| Male gender | 784 (60.1) | 372 (73.4) | 149 (72.0) | < 0.0001 |
| Country of birth | 0.008 | |||
| Australia | 899 (68.9) | 374 (73.8) | 161 (77.8) | |
| New Zealand | 35 (2.7) | 16 (3.2) | 7 (3.4) | |
| United Kingdom | 79 (6.1) | 38 (7.5) | 10 (4.8) | |
| Other | 291 (22.3) | 79 (15.6) | 29 (14.0) | |
| English as primary language | 1171 (89.8) | 478 (94.3) | 188 (90.8) | 0.01 |
| Marital status | 0.2 | |||
| Divorced, widowed or separated | 127 (9.8) | 50 (9.9) | 27 (13.0) | |
| Married or de facto | 640 (49.1) | 269 (53.2) | 104 (50.2) | |
| Never married | 536 (41.1) | 187 (37.0) | 76 (36.7) | |
| Recruitment source | < 0.0001 | |||
| RNSH or RPAH | 778 (59.7) | 227 (44.8) | 67 (32.4) | |
| Orange, Dubbo or Bathurst hospital | 103 (7.9) | 132 (26.0) | 59 (28.5) | |
| Other hospital | 338 (25.9) | 136 (26.8) | 74 (35.8) | |
| Non-hospital | 85 (6.5) | 12 (2.4) | 7 (3.4) | |
| Educational level | < 0.0001 | |||
| Primary or pre-primary | 70 (5.4) | 38 (7.5) | 18 (8.7) | |
| Secondary | 375 (28.8) | 167 (32.9) | 72 (34.8) | |
| Technical or other further education | 302 (23.2) | 121 (23.9) | 65 (31.4) | |
| Tertiary or university | 556 (42.7) | 181 (35.7) | 52 (25.1) | |
| Pre-injury paid work or self-employment | 1011 (77.5) | 378 (74.6) | 143 (69.1) | 0.02 |
| Pre-injury income (Aust dollars) | 0.5 | |||
| $0–20,799 | 53 (5.5) | 17 (4.8) | 10 (7.4) | |
| $20,800–41,599 | 151 (15.7) | 52 (14.7) | 28 (20.7) | |
| $41,600–64,999 | 263 (27.3) | 94 (26.5) | 40 (29.6) | |
| $65,000–103,999 | 277 (28.8) | 105 (29.6) | 30 (22.2) | |
| $104,000+ | 219 (22.7) | 87 (24.5) | 27 (20.0) | |
| BMI (mean, SD) | 26.1 (5.3) | 26.6 (5.4) | 26.9 (6.3) | 0.1 |
| Any pre-injury comorbidity on list of 18 specific items | 726 (55.7) | 286 (56.4) | 128 (61.8) | 0.2 |
| Current smoking | 222 (17.0) | 87 (17.2) | 40 (19.3) | 0.7 |
| Alcohol intake - audit-C score (mean, SD) | 3.25 (2.56) | 3.37 (2.54) | 3.21 (2.86) | 0.6 |
| Crash type | < 0.0001 | |||
| Car driver | 522 (40.1) | 143 (28.2) | 58 (28.2) | |
| Car passenger | 143 (11.0) | 47 (9.3) | 13 (6.3) | |
| Motorbike driver or passenger | 329 (25.3) | 197 (38.9) | 102 (49.5) | |
| Bicyclist | 210 (16.1) | 76 (15.0) | 13 (6.3) | |
| Pedestrian or skateboard | 99 (7.6) | 44 (8.7) | 20 (9.7) | |
| Perceived danger of death | < 0.0001 | |||
| Overwhelming | 120 (9.3) | 59 (11.9) | 28 (14.3) | |
| Great | 182 (14.1) | 87 (17.5) | 43 (21.9) | |
| Moderate | 238 (18.5) | 101 (20.4) | 52 (26.5) | |
| Small | 265 (20.6) | 96 (19.4) | 28 (14.3) | |
| None | 482 (37.5) | 153 (30.9) | 45 (23.0) | |
| Perceived danger of disability | < 0.0001 | |||
| Overwhelming | 102 (8.6) | 62 (13.5) | 34 (18.1) | |
| Great | 195 (16.5) | 99 (21.6) | 44 (23.4) | |
| Moderate | 303 (25.6) | 111 (24.2) | 49 (26.1) | |
| Small | 293 (24.8) | 94 (20.5) | 32 (17.0) | |
| None | 291 (24.6) | 93 (20.3) | 29 (15.4) | |
| Self-report of psychological injury in accident | 317 (24.3) | 104 (20.5) | 49 (24.7) | 0.2 |
| Self-report of regions injured | ||||
| Head or face | 390 (29.9) | 149 (29.4) | 64 (30.9) | 0.9 |
| Neck | 508 (39.0) | 119 (23.5) | 39 (18.8) | < 0.0001 |
| Spine or back | 520 (39.9) | 175 (34.5) | 82 (39.6) | 0.1 |
| Torso | 505 (38.7) | 271 (53.5) | 124 (59.9) | < 0.0001 |
| Upper extremity | 893 (68.5) | 351 (69.2) | 122 (58.9) | 0.017 |
| Lower extremity | 707 (54.2) | 306 (60.4) | 144 (69.6) | < 0.0001 |
| Self-report of predominant injury | < 0.0001 | |||
| Multiple areas | 151 (13.0) | 46 (9.9) | 19 (9.7) | |
| Head/face | 104 (9.0) | 28 (6.0) | 9 (4.6) | |
| Neck | 143 (12.3) | 19 (4.1) | 9 (4.6) | |
| Spine/back | 74 (6.4) | 29 (6.3) | 17 (8.7) | |
| Torso | 212 (18.3) | 123 (26.5) | 56 (28.6) | |
| Lower extremity | 198 (17.1) | 115 (24.8) | 68 (34.7) | |
| Upper extremity | 278 (24.0) | 104 (22.4) | 18 (9.2) | |