Characteristics of participants and their distribution between EDs
| Characteristics | Category | ED 1 (n=100) | ED 2 (n=100) | ED 3 (n=101) | ED 4 (n=100) | ED 5 (n=100) | Total (N=501) |
| n | n | n | n | n | n (%) | ||
| Gender | Male | 45 | 55 | 34 | 43 | 38 | 215 (42.9) |
| Female | 55 | 45 | 67 | 57 | 62 | 286 (57.1) | |
| Morbidity | Chronic disease | 33 | 34 | 65 | 47 | 56 | 235 (46.9) |
| Acute illness | 67 | 60 | 36 | 53 | 44 | 259 (51.7) | |
| Missing | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 (1.4) | |
| Nationality | Belgian | 94 | 87 | 97 | 78 | 67 | 429 (85.6) |
| Other | 6 | 6 | 4 | 22 | 33 | 65 (13) | |
| Missing | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 (1.4) | |
| Age | 18–64 | 76 | 53 | 35 | 62 | 50 | 276 (55.1) |
| 65–79 | 18 | 24 | 25 | 20 | 33 | 120 (24) | |
| 80+ | 6 | 23 | 40 | 17 | 16 | 102 (20.4) | |
| Missing | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 (0.6) | |
| Profession | Student | 3 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 20 (4) |
| Active | 54 | 45 | 48 | 24 | 26 | 197 (39.3) | |
| Retired | 26 | 45 | 36 | 58 | 54 | 219 (43.7) | |
| Unemployed | 17 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 18 | 51 (10.2) | |
| Missing | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 14 (2.8) | |
| Education level | Low | 69 | 51 | 56 | 76 | 68 | 320 (63.9) |
| High | 31 | 43 | 45 | 20 | 32 | 171 (34.1) | |
| Missing | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 10 (2) | |
| Self-related health status | Very poor | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 19 (3.8) |
| Poor | 8 | 12 | 27 | 19 | 16 | 82 (16.4) | |
| Fair | 43 | 33 | 38 | 31 | 32 | 177 (35.3) | |
| Good | 41 | 45 | 26 | 29 | 35 | 176 (35.1) | |
| Very good | 7 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 9 | 46 (9.2) | |
| Missing | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (0.2) |
ED, emergency department.