Table 1.
General characteristics of patients and activity of quick diagnosis unit by study period.
| Characteristic | Prepandemic (Jan 1–Feb 19)a |
P for difference | Pandemic (Feb 26–Apr 22) |
P for difference | Postpandemic (Apr 29–Jul 8)b |
P value a vs. b |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals (n = 384) | Referrals (n = 193) | Referrals (n = 450) | ||||
| Gender, n (%) | 0.040 | 0.047 | 0.113 | |||
| Female | 186 (48.44) | 105 (54.40) | 227 (50.44) | |||
| Male | 198 (51.56) | 88 (45.60) | 223 (49.56) | |||
| Age (years), mean ± SD | 63.6 ± 13.4 | <0.001 | 55.0 ± 14.1 | <0.001 | 62.1 ± 15.0 | 0.157 |
| Age groups (years), n (%) | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.176 | |||
| 18–44 | 31 (8.07) | 50 (25.91) | 42 (9.33) | |||
| 45–65 | 199 (51.82) | 85 (44.04) | 230 (51.11) | |||
| >65 | 154 (40.10) | 58 (30.05) | 178 (39.56) | |||
| Annual income (€), n (%)† | 0.064 | 0.096 | 0.239 | |||
| >100,000 | 5 (1.30) | 3 (1.55) | 6 (1.33) | |||
| 18,000–100,000 | 156 (40.63) | 87 (45.08) | 188 (41.78) | |||
| <18,000 | 223 (58.07) | 103 (53.37) | 256 (56.89) | |||
| Wait time to first appointment (days), mean ± SD | 2.75 ± 1.44 | <0.001 | 6.55 ± 2.18 | <0.001 | 4.26 ± 1.72 | <0.001 |
| Visits to quick diagnosis unit, mean ± SD | 3.04 ± 1.08 | 0.029 | 2.68 ± 0.84 | <0.001 | 3.14 ± 1.23 | 0.185 |
| Total number of visits, n (%) | 0.043 | <0.001 | 0.221 | |||
| ≤2 | 222 (57.81) | 122 (63.21) | 252 (56.00) | |||
| ≥3 | 162 (42.19) | 71 (36.79) | 198 (44.00) | |||
| Ratio of successive/first visits, mean ± SD | 1.75 ± 0.44 | 0.038 | 1.53 ± 0.32 | <0.001 | 1.83 ± 0.70 | 0.196 |
| Time-to-diagnosis (days), mean ± SD | 8.33 ± 3.94 | <0.001 | 19.72 ± 10.37 | <0.001 | 13.49 ± 6.45 | <0.001 |
†
According to the administrative healthcare database of the Health Department of the Government of Catalonia (Catalan Health Surveillance System [CHSS]).