Table 2 Number and percentage of PED visits for all study variables by time period (i.e., pre-COVID and COVID periods) and main outcome (i.e., avoidable and not avoidable)
Pre-COVID period (2263 days) | COVID period(294 days) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Avoidable PED Visit | No | Yes | Overall | No | Yes | Overall | p-value pre-COVID and COVID periods |
n | 275,584 | 192,104 | 467,688 | 21,585 | 11,071 | 32,656 | |
Age (years) (%) | |||||||
[0...2] | 77,191 (28.0) | 63,426 (33.0) | 140,617 (30.1) | 7131 (33.1) | 3661 (33.1) | 10,792 (33.1) | < 0.001 |
[3...5] | 42,757 (15.5) | 42,384 (22.1) | 85,141 (18.2) | 3052 (14.2) | 2135 (19.3) | 5187 (15.9) | |
[6...8] | 33,432 (12.1) | 26,767 (13.9) | 60,199 (12.9) | 2273 (10.5) | 1291 (11.7) | 3564 (10.9) | |
[9...11] | 38,462 (14.0) | 20,725 (10.8) | 59,187 (12.7) | 2629 (12.2) | 1232 (11.1) | 3861 (11.8) | |
[12...14] | 38,975 (14.2) | 17,572 (9.2) | 56,547 (12.1) | 2808 (13.0) | 1169 (10.6) | 3977 (12.2) | |
[15...17] | 44,613 (16.2) | 21,128 (11.0) | 65,741 (14.1) | 3673 (17.0) | 1572 (14.2) | 5245 (16.1) | |
Sex = Male (%) | 145,507 (52.8) | 103,768 (54.0) | 249,275 (53.3) | 11,469 (53.1) | 6101 (55.1) | 17,570 (53.8) | 0.079 |
Season (%) | < 0.001 | ||||||
Fall (1/9 to 30/11) | 75,953 (27.6) | 50,053 (26.1) | 126,006 (26.9) | 10,223 (47.4) | 3205 (28.9) | 13,428 (41.1) | |
Spring (1/3 to 31/5) | 68,702 (24.9) | 47,772 (24.9) | 116,474 (24.9) | 3723 (17.2) | 3160 (28.5) | 6883 (21.1) | |
Summer (1/6 to 31/8) | 52,041 (18.9) | 40,523 (21.1) | 92,564 (19.8) | 6440 (29.8) | 4199 (37.9) | 10,639 (32.6) | |
Winter (1/12 to 28/2) | 78,888 (28.6) | 53,756 (28.0) | 132,644 (28.4) | 1199 (5.6) | 507 (4.6) | 1706 (5.2) | |
Weekend = No (%) | 205,503 (74.6) | 139,009 (72.4) | 344,512 (73.7) | 16,150 (74.8) | 8183 (73.9) | 24,333 (74.5) | 0.001 |
Time of day (%) (24 h clock) | < 0.001 | ||||||
[0...3] | 20,374 (7.4) | 13,893 (7.2) | 34,267 (7.3) | 1579 (7.3) | 887 (8.0) | 2466 (7.6) | |
[4...7] | 11,122 (4.0) | 6089 (3.2) | 17,211 (3.7) | 766 (3.5) | 294 (2.7) | 1060 (3.2) | |
[8...11] | 53,599 (19.4) | 35,234 (18.3) | 88,833 (19.0) | 3980 (18.4) | 1820 (16.4) | 5800 (17.8) | |
[12...15] | 62,277 (22.6) | 41,483 (21.6) | 103,760 (22.2) | 4963 (23.0) | 2363 (21.3) | 7326 (22.4) | |
[16...19] | 64,012 (23.2) | 45,709 (23.8) | 109,721 (23.5) | 5297 (24.5) | 2684 (24.2) | 7981 (24.4) | |
[20...23] | 64,200 (23.3) | 49,696 (25.9) | 113,896 (24.4) | 5000 (23.2) | 3023 (27.3) | 8023 (24.6) | |
Residence municipality (%) | < 0.001 | ||||||
Porto | 60,347 (22.0) | 43,493 (22.7) | 103,840 (22.3) | 4395 (20.5) | 2233 (20.3) | 6628 (20.4) | |
Maia | 41,922 (15.3) | 28,136 (14.7) | 70,058 (15.0) | 3241 (15.1) | 1588 (14.4) | 4829 (14.9) | |
Matosinhos | 45,162 (16.5) | 30,563 (16.0) | 75,725 (16.3) | 3709 (17.3) | 1854 (16.9) | 5563 (17.1) | |
Gondomar | 53,007 (19.3) | 37,707 (19.7) | 90,714 (19.5) | 3839 (17.9) | 1955 (17.8) | 5794 (17.9) | |
Valongo | 34,195 (12.5) | 22,948 (12.0) | 57,143 (12.3) | 2562 (11.9) | 1224 (11.1) | 3786 (11.7) | |
Other | 39,753 (14.5) | 28,380 (14.8) | 68,133 (14.6) | 3716 (17.3) | 2143 (19.5) | 5859 (18.1) | |
Referral = No (%) | 225,236 (81.8) | 165,606 (86.3) | 390,842 (83.6) | 13,184 (61.2) | 7267 (65.8) | 20,451 (62.7) | < 0.001 |
Made return visit 72 h prior = No (%) | 259,026 (94.0) | 182,086 (94.8) | 441,112 (94.3) | 20,614 (95.5) | 10,525 (95.1) | 31,139 (95.4) | < 0.001 |
Visit by frequent attender = No (%) | 227,741 (82.6) | 154,891 (80.6) | 382,632 (81.8) | 19,331 (89.6) | 9990 (90.2) | 29,321 (89.8) | < 0.001 |
Triage level (%) | |||||||
1 | 781 (0.3) | 21 (0.0) | 802 (0.2) | 77 (0.4) | 0 (0.0) | 77 (0.2) | |
2 | 23,914 (8.7) | 3075 (1.6) | 26,989 (5.8) | 1497 (6.9) | 229 (2.1) | 1726 (5.3) | |
3 | 117,271 (42.6) | 67,824 (35.3) | 185,095 (39.6) | 9322 (43.2) | 3615 (32.7) | 12,937 (39.6) | |
4 | 126,449 (45.9) | 109,054 (56.8) | 235,503 (50.4) | 9161 (42.4) | 6114 (55.2) | 15,275 (46.8) | |
5 | 7160 (2.6) | 12,120 (6.3) | 19,280 (4.1) | 1527 (7.1) | 1113 (10.1) | 2640 (8.1) | |
Discharge physician’s speciality (%) | < 0.001 | ||||||
Paediatrics | 172,323 (62.5) | 127,056 (66.1) | 299,379 (64.0) | 14,841 (68.8) | 6168 (55.7) | 21,009 (64.3) | |
Orthopaedics | 64,809 (23.5) | 6428 (3.3) | 71,237 (15.2) | 3362 (15.6) | 378 (3.4) | 3740 (11.5) | |
Paediatric surgery | 29,151 (10.6) | 29,662 (15.4) | 58,813 (12.6) | 2445 (11.3) | 2600 (23.5) | 5045 (15.4) | |
Ophthalmology | 641 (0.2) | 13,610 (7.1) | 14,251 (3.0) | 53 (0.2) | 789 (7.1) | 842 (2.6) | |
Otolaryngology | 3372 (1.2) | 8939 (4.7) | 12,311 (2.6) | 244 (1.1) | 679 (6.1) | 923 (2.8) | |
Stomatology | 770 (0.3) | 3235 (1.7) | 4005 (0.9) | 87 (0.4) | 189 (1.7) | 276 (0.8) | |
Immunoallergology | 584 (0.2) | 667 (0.3) | 1251 (0.3) | 15 (0.1) | 9 (0.1) | 24 (0.1) | |
Obstetrics | 427 (0.2) | 421 (0.2) | 848 (0.2) | 53 (0.2) | 46 (0.4) | 99 (0.3) | |
Plastic and Reconstructive surgery | 524 (0.2) | 274 (0.1) | 798 (0.2) | 12 (0.1) | 0 (0.0) | 12 (0.0) | |
Other | 2983 (1.1) | 1812 (0.9) | 4795 (1.0) | 473 (2.2) | 213 (1.9) | 686 (2.1) | |
Returns within 72 h = No (%) | 260,156 (94.4) | 181,651 (94.6) | 441,807 (94.5) | 20,597 (95.4) | 10,588 (95.6) | 31,185 (95.5) | < 0.001 |