Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients with 2 or more emergency department visits within 1 year for alcohol-related reasons between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2016
| Characteristic | No. of ED visits; no. (%) of patients* | Standardized difference† | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall n = 25 813 | 2 n = 17 020 | 3–4 n = 5704 | ≥ 5 n = 3089 | ||
| Sex | |||||
| Female | 8224 (31.9) | 5548 (32.6) | 1795 (31.5) | 881 (28.5) | 0.09‡ |
| Male | 17 589 (68.1) | 11 472 (67.4) | 3909 (68.5) | 2208 (71.5) | 0.09‡ |
| Age at index ED visit, yr | |||||
| Mean ± SD | 43.66 ± 15.42 | 43.00 ± 16.12 | 45.05 ± 14.26 | 44.79 ± 13.12 | 0.12‡ |
| Median (IQR) | 45 (31–55) | 44 (29–55) | 46 (34–55) | 45 (34–54) | 0.14§ |
| 16–18 | 873 (3.4) | 754 (4.4) | 103 (1.8) | 16 (0.5) | 0.25‡ |
| 19–24 | 2758 (10.7) | 2181 (12.8) | 410 (7.2) | 167 (5.4) | 0.26‡ |
| 25–44 | 9152 (35.5) | 5760 (33.8) | 2117 (37.1) | 1275 (41.3) | 0.15‡ |
| 45–64 | 10 752 (41.6) | 6723 (39.5) | 2594 (45.5) | 1435 (46.5) | 0.14‡ |
| 65–105 | 2278 (8.8) | 1602 (9.4) | 480 (8.4) | 196 (6.3) | 0.11‡ |
| Rural status | |||||
| Urban | 22 590 (87.5) | 14 831 (87.1) | 4991 (87.5) | 2768 (89.6) | 0.08‡ |
| Rural | 3223 (12.5) | 2189 (12.9) | 713 (12.5) | 321 (10.4) | 0.08‡ |
| Neighbourhood income quintile | |||||
| Q1 (lowest) | 9233 (35.8) | 5880 (34.5) | 2114 (37.1) | 1239 (40.1) | 0.12‡ |
| Q2 | 5384 (20.9) | 3553 (20.9) | 1208 (21.2) | 623 (20.2) | 0.02¶ |
| Q3 | 4173 (16.2) | 2792 (16.4) | 879 (15.4) | 502 (16.3) | 0.03§ |
| Q4 | 3506 (13.6) | 2415 (14.2) | 761 (13.3) | 330 (10.7) | 0.11‡ |
| Q5 (highest) | 3234 (12.5) | 2226 (13.1) | 676 (11.9) | 332 (10.7) | 0.07‡ |
| Missing | 283 (1.1) | 154 (0.9) | 66 (1.2) | 63 (2.0) | 0.09‡ |
| No. of Johns Hopkins ADG comorbidities | |||||
| Mean ± SD | 6.18 ± 3.59 | 5.57 ± 3.41 | 6.79 ± 3.49 | 8.44 ± 3.67 | 0.81‡ |
| Median (IQR) | 6 (3–8) | 5 (3–8) | 6 (4–9) | 8 (6–11) | 0.85‡ |
| Acuity at index ED visit | |||||
| High (CTAS triage level I, II or III) | 3338 (12.9) | 2180 (12.8) | 717 (12.6) | 441 (14.3) | 0.04¶ |
| Low (CTAS triage level IV or V) | 22 317 (86.5) | 14 736 (86.6) | 4949 (86.8) | 2632 (85.2) | 0.05** |
| Missing | 158 (0.6) | 104 (0.6) | 38 (0.7) | 16 (0.5) | 0.02** |
| Arrived by ambulance | 15 335 (59.4) | 9941 (58.4) | 3323 (58.3) | 2071 (67.0) | 0.18¶ |
| Admitted to hospital at index ED visit | 3377 (13.1) | 2248 (13.2) | 771 (13.5) | 358 (11.6) | 0.06** |
| Hospital length of stay, d (n = 3377) | |||||
| Median (IQR) | 3 (1–7) | 3 (1–7) | 3 (2–6) | 2 (1–5) | 0.33** |
| 1–3 | 1873 (55.5) | 1221 (54.3) | 414 (53.7) | 238 (66.5) | 0.26** |
| 4–6 | 642 (19.0) | 408 (18.1) | 175 (22.7) | 59 (16.5) | 0.16** |
| 7–9 | 311 (9.2) | 220 (9.8) | 66 (8.5) | 25 (7.0) | 0.10‡ |
| ≥ 10 | 551 (16.3) | 399 (17.7) | 116 (15.0) | 36 (10.0) | 0.22‡ |
Note: ADG = Aggregated Diagnosis Group, CTAS = Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale, ED = emergency department, IQR = interquartile range, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Except where noted otherwise.
↵† Pairwise standardized differences were calculated between all study groups. The largest standardized difference is reported as follows: ‡2 visits versus 5 or more visits, §2 visits versus 3–4 visits, ¶tie in largest standardized difference between 2 visits versus 5 or more visits and 3–4 visits versus 5 or more visits, **3–4 visits versus 5 or more visits.