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Table 1 Comparison of patient groups with non-specific complaints (NSC) (n = 165) or specific complaints (SC) (n = 546)

From: Non-specific complaints at emergency department presentation result in unclear diagnoses and lengthened hospitalization: a prospective observational study

Variable

NSC (n = 165)

SC (n = 546)

p-value

Patient characteristics

 Age in years; median (IQR)

71.0 (23.0)

69.0 (27)

0.347

 Female gender; n (%)

79 (47.9%)

243 (44.5%)

0.476

Encounter characteristics

 Resuscitation bay; n (%)

14 (8.5%)

64 (11.8%)

0.259

Triage category; n (%)

  1 (acute situation, immediate care)

10 (6.1%)

32 (5.9%)

0.282

  2 (urgent situation, care within 20 min)

58 (35.2%)

241 (44.1%)

  3 (semi-urgent situation, care within 120 min)

89 (53.9%)

255 (46.7%)

  4 (non-urgent situation)

4 (4.2%)

14 (2.6%)

  5 (scheduled visit)

1 (0.6%)

4 (0.7%)

 Previous medical contact; n (%)

162 (67.3%)

289 (52.9%)

< 0.001

ED outcome

 ED stay in hours; median (IQR)a

6.27 (3.11)

6.09 (3.26)

0.497°

 Vague diagnosis at ED discharge; n (%)

50 (30.3%)

126 (23.1%)

0.039°

Patient outcome

 Hospital stay in days; median (IQR) b

6.51 (5.85)

5.22 (5.83)

0.005°

 Vague diagnosis at hospital discharge; n (%)

15 (9.1%)

51 (9.3%)

0.531°

 Mortality; n (%)

12 (7.3%)

20 (3.7%)

0.045°

  1. ED emergency department, NSC non-specific complaints, SC specific complaint,
  2. °one-sided test according to a priori hypotheses
  3. acalculated in minutes and converted to hours
  4. bcalculated in hours and converted to days