Article Figures & Tables
Tables
- Table 1:
Characteristics of emergency department visits and of the top 10% (≥ 3 visits/year) of emergency department users in British Columbia, 2012/13 to 2015/16
Characteristic 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 Total no. of patients 452 427 559 902 643 000 672 551 Total no. of visits 757 562 942 298 1 112 400 1 171 839 No. of frequent users (% of all patients) 62 552 (13.8) 78 984 (14.1) 97 120 (15.1) 102 811 (15.3) No. of visits by frequent users 284 016 355 742 442 854 472 603 Total no. of visits/100 000 population 16 362 20 019 23 290 24 116 No. of visits by frequent users/100 000 population 6134 7558 9272 9726 % of total visits attributable to frequent visits Top 10% users 37.5 37.7 39.8 40.3 Top 5% users 25.5 25.4 27.2 27.7 Top 1% users 8.6 8.2 8.9 9.5 No. of visits, median (IQR) 4 (3–5) 4 (3–5) 4 (3–5) 4 (3–5) Frequent emergency department users Patient characteristics Sex, no. (%) of patients Female 32 881 (52.6) 41 551 (52.6) 51 639 (53.2) 54 585 (53.1) Male 29 655 (47.4) 37 420 (47.4) 45 461 (46.8) 48 210 (46.9) Unknown 16 (0.02) 13 (0.02) 20 (0.02) 16 (0.02) Age category, yr, no. (%) of patients 18–29 11 252 (18.0) 13 928 (17.6) 17 140 (17.6) 17 962 (17.5) 30–39 8766 (14.0) 11 192 (14.2) 13 468 (13.9) 14 320 (13.9) 40–49 8651 (13.8) 10 640 (13.5) 12 583 (13.0) 13 088 (12.7 50–59 9130 (14.6) 11 571 (14.6) 13 853 (14.3) 14 899 (14.5) 60–69 7879 (12.6) 10 026 (12.7) 12 581 (13.0) 13 447 (13.1) ≥ 70 16 874 (27.0) 21 627 (27.4) 27 495 (28.3) 29 095 (28.3) Age at year end, median (IQR), yr 53 (35–72) 53 (34–72) 54 (35–73) 54 (35–73) Visit characteristics Top 5 diagnostic categories (ICD-10 chapter) Symptoms, signs, and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings (XVIII) 45 000 (15.8) 63 544 (17.9) 82 383 (18.6) 87 247 (18.5) Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (XIX) 28 709 (10.1) 38 390 (10.8) 49 566 (11.2) 53 119 (11.2) Mental and behavioural disorders (V) 13 344 (4.7) 19 103 (5.4) 24 023 (5.4) 28 391 (6.0) Disease of genitourinary system (XIV) 12 402 (4.4) 16 595 (4.7) 22 199 (5.0) 23 235 (4.9) Diseases of musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (XIII) 11 376 (4.0) 15 753 (4.4) 20 283 (4.6) 22 025 (4.7) Missing 105 512 (37.2) 105 922 (29.8) 116 761 (26.4) 122 105 (25.8) Note: ICD-10 = International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, IQR = interquartile range.
- Table 2:
Characteristics of emergency department visits and of frequent (top 10%) and nonfrequent (bottom 90%) emergency department users, 2015/16
Characteristic No. (%) of patients or visits* Nonfrequent users
n = 569 740Frequent users
n = 102 811Patients Sex Female 295 385 (51.8) 54 585 (53.1) Male 274 283 (48.1) 48 210 (46.9) Unknown 72 (0.01) 16 (0.02) Age, median (IQR), yr 50 (33–66) 54 (35–73) Neighbourhood income quintile Q1 (lowest) 122 615 (21.5) 28 100 (27.3) Q2 116 585 (20.5) 21 598 (21.0) Q3 111 426 (19.6) 19 294 (18.8) Q4 110 531 (19.4) 17 199 (16.7) Q5 (highest) 98 238 (17.2) 14 699 (14.3) Unknown 5901 (1.0) 1329 (1.3) Missing 4444 (0.8) 592 (0.6) Residence Rural 31 623 (5.6) 4642 (4.6) Urban 533 673 (93.7) 97 577 (94.9) Missing 4444 (0.8) 592 (0.6) No. of visits, median (IQR) 1 (1–1) 4 (3–5) Mortality No. of deaths within 1 yr of last emergency department visit 19 836 (3.5) 10 475 (10.2) Sex Male 10 380 (52.3) 4822 (46.0) Female 9441 (47.6) 5650 (53.9) Unknown 15 (< 0.00) 3 (< 0.00) Age at death, median (IQR), yr 81 (69–89) 78 (66–87) Visits Total no. of visits 699 236 472 603 Transportation method Air ambulance 356 (0.1) 86 (0.02) Combination of air and ground ambulance 226 (0.05) 79 (0.02) Ground ambulance 131 335 (18.8) 123 419 (26.1) No ambulance 567 319 (81.1) 349 019 (73.9) Triage level (Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale) 1 (Resuscitation) 5014 (0.7) 3357 (0.7) 2 (Emergent) 114 723 (16.4) 83 750 (17.7) 3 (Urgent) 337 639 (48.3) 239 910 (50.8) 4 (Less urgent) 220 680 (31.6) 121 871 (25.8) 5 (Nonurgent) 19 113 (2.7) 22 326 (4.7) Unknown 2067 (0.3) 1389 (0.3) Top 5 diagnostic categories (ICD-10 chapter) 129 292 (18.5) Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (XIX) 87 247 (18.5) Symptoms, signs, and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings (XVIII) 122 264 (17.5) Symptoms, signs, and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings (XVIII) 122 264 (17.5) Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (XIX) 29 882 (4.3) Diseases of digestive system (XI) 28 391 (6.0) Mental and behavioural disorders (V) 29 804 (4.3) Diseases of respiratory system (X) 22 548 (4.8) Diseases of respiratory system (X) 24 808 (3.5) Diseases of circulatory system (IX) 21 803 (4.6) Diseases of digestive system (XI) Missing 185 520 (26.5) 122 105 (25.8) Discharge disposition Discharged to place of residence (home or institution) 598 572 (85.6) 380 633 (80.5) Admitted or transferred 98 039 (14.0) 89 107 (18.8) Left before completion of treatment 2024 (0.3) 2684 (0.6) Died 601 (0.09) 179 (0.04) No. of drug prescriptions, median (IQR) 1 (1–3) 9 (5–14) Hospital admission No. of admissions per person, median (IQR) 1 (1–1) 2 (1–3) Top 5 discharge diagnostic categories (ICD-10 chapter) 19 953 (17.3) Diseases of circulatory system (IX) 14 661 (15.2) Mental and behavioural disorders (V) 17 255 (14.9) Injury, poisoning (XIX) 13 221 (13.7) Diseases of circulatory system (IX) 15 527 (13.4) Diseases of digestive system (XI) 11 273 (11.7) Diseases of digestive system (XI) 10 774 (9.3) Mental and behavioural disorders (V) 10 074 (10.5) Diseases of respiratory system (X) 10 110 (8.7) Diseases of respiratory system (X) 9656 (10.0) Symptoms and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings (XVIII) Physician billing No. of primary care physicians visits, median (IQR) 7 (4–12) 15 (9–27) No. of individual primary care physicians visited, median (IQR) 3 (2–5) 6 (4–9) Majority source of care 259 203 (45.5) 45 169 (43.9) Note: ICD-10 = International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, IQR = interquartile range.
↵* Except where noted otherwise.