Baseline patient and hospital characteristics
| Characteristic | No. (%) of patients* n = 13 272 |
|---|---|
| Patients | |
| Adult | 12438 (93.7) |
| Age, yr, mean ± SD | 64.0 ± 17.9 |
| Sex, male | 6816 (54.8) |
| Pediatric | 427 (3.2) |
| Age, yr, mean ± SD | 7.6 ± 7.6 |
| Sex, male | 253 (59.0) |
| Neonate | 407 (3.1) |
| Age, yr | Not recorded |
| Sex, male | 294 (72.2) |
| Hospitals | |
| Type | |
| Primary† | 1325 (10.0) |
| Secondary‡ | 3947 (29.7) |
| Tertiary and specialized§ | 8000 (60.3) |
| Region | |
| Western¶ | 3862 (29.1) |
| Central** | 6440 (48.5) |
| Atlantic†† | 2970 (22.4) |
Note: SD = standard deviation.
↵* Unless indicated otherwise.
↵† Often referred to as a district hospital or first-level referral. It usually corresponds to a general hospital without teaching functions.
↵‡ Often referred to as provincial hospital. It is a hospital highly differentiated by function with 5–10 clinical specialties, which takes some referrals from other (primary) hospitals. It often corresponds to a general hospital with teaching functions.
↵§ Often referred to as a central or regional hospital. It is a hospital with highly specialized staff and technical equipment (e.g., hematology, transplantation, cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and specialized imaging units and an intensive care unit). Clinical services are highly differentiated by function.
↵¶ British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
↵** Ontario and Quebec.
↵†† Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.