Table 4.
Characteristics of presentations to the Emergency Departments across the south-west.
| Characteristics of ED Presentations | Overall | Days of Extreme Heat | Days of Non-Extreme Heat | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) | Farming Areas n (%) |
Non-Farming Areas n (%) |
DF | Sig (p-Value) |
Farming Areas n (%) |
Non-Farming Areas n (%) |
DF | Sig (p-Value) |
|
| Age | |||||||||
| Mean (years) | 42.3 | 39.4 | 43.7 | 1 | 0.025 | 38.6 | 42.6 | 1 | <0.001 |
| Gender | |||||||||
| Male | 30,013 (48.7%) | 110 (55.3%) | 1399 (48.8%) | 1 | 0.79 | 2260 (52.1%) | 26,244 (48.4%) | 1 | <0.001 |
| Female | 31,618 (51.3%) | 89 (44.7%) | 1466 (51.2%) | 2081 (47.9%) | 27,982 (51.6%) | ||||
| Arrival Transport Mode * | 1 | 0.020 | 1 | <0.001 | |||||
| Ambulance Service (Air Ambulance, Ambulance Service, Helicopter, Road Ambulance, police vehicle) | 10,543 (17.1%) | 24 (12.3%) | 540 (19.1%) | 536 (12.4%) | 9443 (17.5%) | ||||
| Other (Private car, community/public transport/voluntary drivers) | 50,792 (82.4%) | 171 (87.7%) | 2293 (80.9%) | 3372 (87.6%) | 44,556 (82.5%) | ||||
| Triage Category ** | 3 | 0.033 | 3 | <0.001 | |||||
| Resuscitation and Emergency | 5681 (9.2%) | 20 (10.0%) | 283 (9.9%) | 374 (8.6%) | 5004 (9.2%) | ||||
| Urgent | 19,689 (31.9%) | 61 (30.8%) | 1008 (35.2%) | 1244 (28.7%) | 17,376 (32.1%) | ||||
| Semi Urgent | 27,651 (44.9%) | 79 (39.9%) | 1224 (42.8%) | 1966 (45.3%) | 24,382 (45.0%) | ||||
| Non-Urgent | 8589 (13.9%) | 38 (19.2%) | 345 (12.1%) | 756 (17.4%) | 7450 (13.7%) | ||||
| Departure Status *** | 2 | 0.661 | 2 | <0.001 | |||||
| Admitted | 15,754 (25.7%) | 58 (29.9%) | 759 (26.9%) | 1052 (24.4%) | 13,885 (25.7%) | ||||
| Discharged home | 41,487 (67.7%) | 120 (61.9%) | 1818 (64.3%) | 3059 (71.0%) | 36,490 (67.6%) | ||||
| Left at own risk/after clinical advice | 3981 (6.5%) | 16 (8.2%) | 245 (8.7%) | 192 (4.5%) | 3528 (6.5%) | ||||
| Modified Monash Model | 1 | <0.001 | 1 | <0.001 | |||||
| MMM4 or less | 40,412 (65.6%) | 13 (6.5%) | 2037 (71.1%) | 222 (5.1%) | 38,140 (70.3%) | ||||
| MMM5 | 21,219 (34.4%) | 186 (93.5%) | 828 (28.9%) | 4119 (94.9%) | 16,086 (29.7%) | ||||
| Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (ISRAD) | 1 | <0.001 | 1 | <0.001 | |||||
| 2–4 | 46,864 (76.0%) | 64 (32.2%) | 2306 (80.5%) | 1329 (30.6%) | 43,165 (79.6%) | ||||
| 5–7 | 12,730 (20.7%) | 124 (62.3%) | 468 (16.3%) | 2693 (62.0%) | 9445 (17.4%) | ||||
| 8–10 | 2037 (3.3%) | 11 (5.5%) | 91 (3.2%) | 319 (7.3%) | 1616 (3.0%) | ||||
* ‘Undertaker’ (n = 3) presentations removed. ‘Police vehicle’ (n = 252) in ambulance service, as these are typically mental health or intoxicated patients. Missing cases, n = 293; ** Missing cases, n = 21; *** Correctional/custodial facility (n = 45), dead on arrival (n = 8), and died within ED (n = 17) removed as numbers too low.