Table 2. Study population characteristics by county per capita income tax.
| Characteristics | Total | County per capita income tax | P value | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 (Highest) | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | |||||
| Total, community | 229 | 24 | 30 | 47 | 128 | |||
| Total, ED visits | 11,662,167 | 2,914,922 | 2,940,435 | 2,917,213 | 2,889,597 | |||
| Incidence rate, per 100,000 person-days | 90.5 | 81.7 | 92.7 | 84.6 | 107.1 | |||
| Age, yr | < 0.001 | |||||||
| 0–19 | 2,173,765 (18.6) | 610,907 (21.0) | 582,512 (19.8) | 544,764 (18.7) | 435,582 (15.1) | |||
| 20–39 | 2,642,574 (22.7) | 717,108 (24.6) | 733,034 (24.9) | 663,664 (22.7) | 528,768 (18.3) | |||
| 40–59 | 3,069,799 (26.3) | 750,067 (25.7) | 775,629 (26.4) | 788,303 (27.0) | 755,800 (26.2) | |||
| 60–79 | 2,726,324 (23.4) | 609,562 (20.9) | 632,303 (21.5) | 664,865 (22.8) | 819,594 (28.4) | |||
| 80–120 | 1,049,705 (9.0) | 227,278 (7.8) | 216,957 (7.4) | 255,617 (8.8) | 349,853 (12.1) | |||
| Sex, female | 5,756,688 (49.4) | 1,465,446 (50.3) | 1,466,482 (49.9) | 1,442,588 (49.5) | 1,382,172 (47.8) | < 0.001 | ||
| Insurance, medical aid | 1,328,499 (11.4) | 277,840 (9.5) | 329,150 (11.2) | 341,892 (11.7) | 379,617 (13.1) | < 0.001 | ||
| EMS use | 2,520,555 (21.6) | 620,295 (21.3) | 616,070 (21.0) | 633,284 (21.7) | 650,906 (22.5) | < 0.001 | ||
| Level of ED, 1 & 2 | 8,927,986 (76.6) | 2,561,900 (87.9) | 2,325,880 (79.1) | 2,279,726 (78.1) | 1,760,480 (60.9) | < 0.001 | ||
| Initial triage, severe | 690,729 (5.9) | 176,539 (6.1) | 168,030 (5.7) | 170,485 (5.8) | 175,675 (6.1) | < 0.001 | ||
| Symptom | ||||||||
| Fever, ≥ 37.5°C | 4,166,049 (35.7) | 779,625 (26.7) | 972,036 (33.1) | 1,000,849 (34.3) | 1,413,539 (48.9) | < 0.001 | ||
| Mental change | 2,968,045 (25.5) | 405,448 (13.9) | 642,043 (21.8) | 706,789 (24.2) | 1,213,765 (42.0) | < 0.001 | ||
| Diagnosis | ||||||||
| Respiratory disease | 1,038,083 (8.9) | 240,341 (8.2) | 261,551 (8.9) | 252,721 (8.7) | 283,470 (9.8) | < 0.001 | ||
| Cardiovascular disease | 246,761 (2.1) | 59,505 (2.0) | 55,614 (1.9) | 60,356 (2.1) | 71,286 (2.5) | < 0.001 | ||
| Neurologic disease | 224,108 (1.9) | 50,410 (1.7) | 50,062 (1.7) | 56,665 (1.9) | 66,971 (2.3) | < 0.001 | ||
| In-hospital mortality | 187,563 (1.6) | 41,306 (1.4) | 40,986 (1.4) | 47,127 (1.6) | 58,144 (2.0) | < 0.001 | ||
| ED | 63,265 (0.5) | 13,708 (0.5) | 12,552 (0.4) | 16,089 (0.6) | 20,916 (0.7) | < 0.001 | ||
| Hospital ward | 124,298 (1.1) | 27,598 (0.9) | 28,434 (1.0) | 31,038 (1.1) | 37,228 (1.3) | < 0.001 | ||
| Community factors | ||||||||
| Employment rate | < 0.001 | |||||||
| Q1 (Highest) | 2,929,750 (25.1) | 326,306 (11.2) | 974,145 (33.1) | 535,916 (18.4) | 1,093,383 (37.8) | |||
| Q2 | 2,914,790 (25.0) | 939,650 (32.2) | 855,227 (29.1) | 348,688 (12.0) | 771,225 (26.7) | |||
| Q3 | 2,927,859 (25.1) | 782,572 (26.8) | 697,339 (23.7) | 823,281 (28.2) | 624,667 (21.6) | |||
| Q4 | 2,889,768 (24.8) | 866,394 (29.7) | 413,724 (14.1) | 1,209,328 (41.5) | 400,322 (13.9) | |||
| Proportion of service workers | < 0.001 | |||||||
| Q1 (Lowest) | 2,897,607 (24.8) | 805,874 (27.6) | 66,416 (2.3) | 592,666 (20.3) | 1,432,651 (49.6) | |||
| Q2 | 3,165,814 (27.1) | 1,081,631 (37.1) | 793,166 (27.0) | 815,884 (28.0) | 475,133 (16.4) | |||
| Q3 | 2,678,180 (23.0) | 803,388 (27.6) | 1,245,342 (42.4) | 456,402 (15.6) | 173,048 (6.0) | |||
| Q4 | 2,920,566 (25.0) | 224,029 (7.7) | 835,511 (28.4) | 1,052,261 (36.1) | 808,765 (28.0) | |||
Values are presented as number of patients (%).
ED = emergency department, EMS = emergency medical services, Q = quartile.