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Table 1 Subject characteristics by Hospital

From: Length of paediatric inpatient stay, socio-economic status and hospital configuration: a retrospective cohort study

Characteristics

Hospital A (n = 1940)a

Hospital P (n = 949)a

Overall (n = 2889)a

p valueb

LOS

LOS (days)

Mean, SD

1.8 ± 2.4

1.7 ± 2.8

1.8 ± 2.6

0.654

LOS ≥ 1.8 days

 

39.7

36.5

38.7

0.089

LOS < 24 h

 

20

23.5

21.1

0.288

Demographic

Gender

Male

56.3

55.1

55.9

0.532

Age (years)

Mean, SD

3.9 ± 4.4

3.8 ± 4.2

3.7 ± 4.2

0.937

Age group (years)

1 and Under

40

40.9

40.3

0.509

2 to 5

34.1

34.7

34.3

6 to 10

12.9

13.4

13.1

11 to 16

13

11.1

12.4

Ethnic Group

White

28.9

39.2

32.3

<0.001

Mixed White

23.2

24

23.5

Asian

33.6

23.9

30.4

Black

8.4

5.2

7.3

Other or not specified

5.9

5.9

6.5

Distance (Km)a

Mean

6.3 ± 14.7

4.8 ± 14.7

6.3 ± 23.2

 

Distance (quartiles) a

1st (live closest)

20

35

24.9

<0.001

2nd

25

25.2

25.1

3rd

25.7

23.5

25

4th (live furthest)

29.2

16.3

25

IDACI

Mean

0.3 ± 0.14

0.43 ± 0.17

0.34 ± 0.17

 

IDACI (quartiles)c

1st (least deprived)

30.8

12.9

24.9

<0.001

2nd

28.8

17.3

25

3rd

25.9

23

24.9

4th (most deprived)

14.6

46.8

25.1

Clinical

Specialty

Medical

82.8

93.5

86.3

<0.001

Surgical

17.2

6.5

13.7

Diagnosis

allergy

0.4

0.6

0.5

<0.001

cardiac

1

0.7

0.9

endocrine

1.1

2.1

1.5

gastro

13.6

10.6

12.6

haemoncology

5.4

4.7

5.2

infection

21.6

21.6

21.6

MSK

1.5

1.7

1.6

neurology

6.1

9.3

7.1

other

2.4

1.9

2.3

psychosocial

1.3

1.8

1.5

respiratory

20

24.7

21.5

surgical GIT

1.8

1

1.5

trauma

12.7

12.1

13.2

urogenital

4.9

3.6

1.8

Maxfax/Dental/ ENT

3.9

1.4

3.1

congenital

0.4

0

0.3

Dermatology

2

2.2

2.1

Number of admissions (in the year)

1

64.5

71

66.6

0.005

2

18.8

15.9

17.8

3

6.4

5.5

6.1

4 or more

10.4

7.6

9.5

Readmission within 28 days

2.5

3.4

2.8

0.196

Process

Time of admission

9.00 to 16.59

33.8

36.4

34.6

0.105

17.00 to 21.59

27.5

28.9

28

22.00 to 08.59

38.7

34.7

37.4

Day of admission

weekday

85.7

88

86.5

0.095

weekend

14.3

12

13.5

Season of admission

spring

26.8

28.1

27.2

0.58

summer

23.8

23.8

23.8

autumn

25

25.8

25.2

winter

24.5

22.2

23.8

Source of admission

elective

9.6

3.6

7.7

<0.001

emergency via A&E

74.6

88.6

79.2

emergency via other

13

6.9

11

other

27

1

2.1

  1. A&E Accident and Emergency department, ENT Ears nose and throat, GIT Gastrointestinal Tract, IDACI Income deprivation affecting children index, LOS Length of stay, MaxFax Maxillofacial, MSK Musculoskeletal, SD Standard deviation
  2. aData were complete for all variables except for distance lived from hospital (n = 74) due to missing postcode or mismatched hospital ward to hospital; % of children in each category unless indicated
  3. bUnivariate analysis of continuous variables using t-test (parametric) or Mann–Whitney (non-parametric) and of categorical variables using chi2
  4. cQuartile of IDACI was calculated in absolute terms for the total dataset not by hospital site
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BMC Health Services Research

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