Characteristics of ED patients, 12-month windows and visits* by length of frequent attendance
| Patients | Frequent attenders | Non-frequent ED attenders | ED attenders | |||
| Temporary | Repeat | Persistent | All | |||
| (n=6866) | (n=1104) | (n=607) | (n=8577) | (n=323 523) | (n=332 100) | |
| Age group (% of patients)†‡ | ||||||
| 0–4 | 10.4 | 5.7 | 2.3 | 9.2 | 13.4 | 13.3 |
| 5–15 | 9.0 | 8.9 | 9.1 | 9.0 | 12.6 | 12.5 |
| 16–24 | 11.5 | 12.5 | 12.4 | 11.7 | 12.6 | 12.6 |
| 25–44 | 20.2 | 24.3 | 34.9 | 21.8 | 22.6 | 22.6 |
| 45–64 | 18.8 | 21.9 | 23.7 | 19.6 | 20.2 | 20.2 |
| 65–74 | 12.4 | 12.6 | 8.7 | 12.2 | 8.6 | 8.7 |
| 75+ | 17.8 | 14.1 | 8.9 | 16.7 | 10.1 | 10.2 |
| Sex (% of patients)†‡ | ||||||
| Male | 53.8 | 51.5 | 46.8 | 53.0 | 51.3 | 51.3 |
| Female | 46.2 | 48.6 | 53.2 | 47.0 | 48.8 | 48.7 |
| Indigenous (% of patients)द | ||||||
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin | 7.4 | 10.6 | 12.5 | 8.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| Neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander origin | 92.6 | 89.4 | 87.5 | 91.8 | 96.8 | 96.6 |
| Partner†‡¶ (% of patients, persons aged 16 years and over) | ||||||
| Yes | 45.1 | 39.0 | 30.2 | 43.2 | 53.8 | 53.5 |
| No | 54.9 | 61.0 | 69.8 | 56.8 | 46.2 | 46.5 |
| Private hospital insurance (% of patients)द | ||||||
| Yes | 17.3 | 16.1 | 11.7 | 16.8 | 32.0 | 31.6 |
| No | 82.7 | 83.9 | 88.3 | 83.3 | 68.0 | 68.4 |
| Preferred language (% of patients)†‡¶ | ||||||
| English | 78.9 | 82.2 | 82.1 | 79.6 | 87.7 | 87.5 |
| Other | 21.1 | 17.8 | 17.9 | 20.4 | 12.3 | 12.5 |
| Socioeconomic status†‡¶ (% of patients) | ||||||
| Quintile 1 (low) | 30.0 | 32.8 | 34.4 | 30.7 | 22.2 | 22.4 |
| Quintile 2 | 26.6 | 24.6 | 25.0 | 26.3 | 22.8 | 22.9 |
| Quintile 3 | 32.8 | 35.6 | 34.6 | 33.3 | 40.4 | 40.2 |
| Quintile 4 | 5.7 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 5.4 | 7.6 | 7.5 |
| Quintile 5 (high) | 4.8 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 4.4 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Visits | (n=108 858) | (n=32 643) | (n=38 338) | (n=179 839) | (n=1 019 794) | (n=1 199 633) |
| Visits in study period (mean visits) | 15.9 | 29.6 | 63.2 | 21.0 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| Visits per 12-month window (with 1+ visit) (mean visits) | 4.2 | 5.8 | 9.5 | 5.1 | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| Admitted (% of visits)ঠ| ||||||
| Yes | 37.0 | 38.0 | 33.5 | 36.4 | 30.8 | 31.6 |
| No | 63.0 | 62.0 | 66.5 | 63.6 | 69.2 | 68.4 |
| Triage categoryঠ(% of visits) | ||||||
| 1 (highest urgency) | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| 2 | 7.7 | 8.3 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 6.7 | 6.9 |
| 3 | 30.0 | 30.3 | 28.8 | 29.9 | 28.0 | 28.3 |
| 4 | 45.1 | 45.7 | 46.6 | 45.8 | 50.7 | 49.9 |
| 5 (lowest urgency) | 16.7 | 15.3 | 16.4 | 16.7 | 14.2 | 14.5 |
*Excludes planned return visits.
†As reported at earliest ED visit in study period.
‡χ2 test for patient type (temporary frequent attender, repeat frequent attender, ongoing frequent attender by: age χ2=164.5 (p<0.0001), sex 12 χ2 2=12.2 (p=0.002) , Indigenous χ2 2=29.1 (p<0.0001), partner χ2 2=43.8 (p<0.0001), hospital insurance χ2 2=10.8 (p=0.045), preferred language χ2 2=8.6 (p=0.014), socioeconomic status χ2 8=34.6 (p<0.0001), admitted χ2 2=196.7 (p<0.0001), triage category χ2 8=76.0 (p<0.0001). Excludes unknown, missing and not-stated.
§As reported at most recent ED visit in study period. This is the recommended approach for Indigenous status41 and was required for hospital insurance due to incomplete early data at two facilities.
¶Percentage missing, unknown, not stated—partner 11.5%, Indigenous status (at last ED visit) 0.9%, socioeconomic status 0.0%, hospital insurance (at last ED visit) 10.8%, preferred language 5.3%, admitted 0.0%, triage category 0.2%.
ED, emergency department.