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Table 2 Subject characteristics by prolonged length of stay defined as greater than or equal to the mean of 1.8 days

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

Characteristic

prolonged length of stay

Overall (n = 2889)a

p valueb

Less than 1.8 days (n = 1772) a

Greater than or equal to 1.8 days (n = 1117)a

Hospital site

P (Paediatric led A&E)

34

31

61.3

0.089

A (Adult physician led A&E)

66

69

  

Demographic

Gender

Male

56.4

55.2

55.9

0.584

Female

43.6

44.8

  

Age (years)

mean, SD

4.2 ± 4.4

3.4 ± 4.4

3.9 ± 4.4

<0.001

Age group (years)

1 and Under

35.4

48

40.3

<0.001

2 to 5

36.9

30.1

34.3

6 to 10

14.2

11.3

13.1

11 to 16

13.5

10.7

12.4

Ethnic Group

White

32.3

32.2

32.3

0.706

Mixed White

23.3

23.8

23.5

Asian

30.5

3.3

30.4

Black

7

7.9

7.3

Other/unspecified

6.9

5.8

6.5

Distance (Km)a

Mean

6.5 ± 24.8

6.1 ± 20.3

6.3 ± 23.2

0.107

Distance (quartiles)a

1st (closest)

23.5

27.2

24.9

0.135

2nd

25.8

24

25.1

3rd

25

25.1

25

4th (furthest)

25.8

23.8

25

IDACI

Mean

0.3 ± 0.14

0.43 ± 0.17

0.34 ± 0.17

0.685

Median

0.31

0.32

0.32

 

IDACI (quartiles)c

1st (least deprived)

25.3

24.3

24.9

<0.001

2nd

25.1

24.8

25

3rd

23.3

27.6

24.9

4th (most deprived)

26.3

23.3

25.1

Clinical

Specialty

Medical

82.1

93

86.3

<0.001

Surgical

18

6.9

13.7

Diagnosis

allergy

0.5

0.5

0.5

<0.001

cardiac

0.8

1.1

1.5

endocrine

1.2

1.9

2.6

gastro

12.7

12.5

12.6

haemoncology

4.8

5.7

5.2

infection

20.2

23.8

21.6

MSK

1.8

1.2

1.6

neurology

7.6

6.5

7.1

other

2.3

2.2

2.3

psychosocial

1.9

9

1.5

respiratory

19.6

24.5

21.5

surgical GIT

6.2

2.9

1.5

trauma

16.5

6.2

12.5

urogenital

3.8

5.4

4.4

Maxfax/Dental/ENT

3.9

1.8

3.1

congenital

0.3

0.3

0.3

Dermatology

1.7

2.7

2.1

Number of admissions in the year

1

68.2

64.2

66.6

0.038

2

17.7

18.1

17.8

3

5.3

7.4

6.1

4 or more

8.9

10.3

9.5

Readmission within 28 days

2.8

2.8

2.8

0.941

Process

Time of admission

9.00 to 16.59

33.5

36.4

34.6

<0.001

17.00 to 21.59

24

34.4

28

22.00 to 08.59

42.6

29.2

37.4

Day of admission

weekday

85.9

87.4

86.5

0.256

weekend

14.1

12.6

13.5

Season of admission

spring

26.4

28.6

27.2

0.58

summer

24.6

22.6

23.8

autumn

24.7

26.1

25.2

winter

24.4

22.7

23.8

Source of admission

elective

11

2.4

7.7

<0.001

emergency via A&E

75.6

85.1

79.2

emergency via other

12.3

9

11

other

11.9

3.6

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
  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
  5. % of children in each category unless indicated