Baseline characteristic comparison between pain-related and non-pain-related paediatric ED visits
| Pain-related ED visit 55.57%* (53.27%, 57.85%) | Non-pain-related ED visit 44.42%* (42.15%, 46.72%) | P value | |
| Age | |||
| <6 years | 27.14% (23.13%, 31.55%) | 66.16% (61.47%, 70.55%) | <0.001 |
| 6–11 years | 31.58% (29.16%, 34.10%) | 14.67% (12.71%, 16.88%) | <0.001 |
| 12–18 years | 41.29% (36.14%, 46.63%) | 19.17% (15.87%, 22.96%) | <0.001 |
| Sex | |||
| Female | 48.88% (45.36%, 52.42%) | 47.95% (45.19%, 50.72%) | 0.732 |
| Male | 51.12% (47.58%, 54.64%) | 52.05% (49.28%, 54.81%) | 0.732 |
| Ethnicity | |||
| Hispanic or Latino | 25.10% (18.09%, 33.71%) | 25.93% (19.95%, 32.96%) | 0.714 |
| Not Hispanic or Latino | 74.90% (66.29%, 81.91%) | 74.07% (67.04%, 80.05%) | 0.714 |
| Race | |||
| White | 63.79% (57.54%, 69.61%) | 70.86% (64.15%, 76.77%) | 0.001 |
| Black | 30.27% (24.60%, 36.61%) | 26.57% (20.89%, 33.15%) | 0.07 |
| Other | 5.94% (4.32%, 8.11%) | 2.56% (1.72%, 3.82%) | 0.001 |
| Region | |||
| Northeast | 12.92% (7.84%, 20.57%) | 13.69% (8.00%, 22.46%) | 0.592 |
| Midwest | 24.77% (17.79%, 33.39%) | 24.63% (16.16%, 35.66%) | 0.949 |
| South | 47.02% (35.34%, 59.04%) | 43.15% (31.00%, 56.18%) | 0.068 |
| West | 15.28% (9.21%, 24.30%) | 18.53% (10.46%, 30.69%) | 0.123 |
| Arrived in EMS | |||
| Yes | 4.37% (3.27%, 5.83%) | 5.67% (4.14%, 7.72%) | 0.238 |
| No | 91.13% (84.59%, 95.06%) | 89.76% (83.06%, 94.00%) | 0.229 |
| Unknown | 3.90% (1.01%, 13.90%) | 4.15% (1.10%, 14.47%) | 0.412 |
| Blank | 0.59% (0.31%, 1.13%) | 0.42% (0.19%, 0.93%) | 0.546 |
| Triage (immediacy) | |||
| Immediate | 1.14% (0.29%, 4.36%)† | 0.75% (0.27%, 2.06%)† | 0.415 |
| Emergent | 6.00% (3.73%, 9.53%) | 8.77% (5.19%, 14.44%) | 0.02 |
| Urgent | 28.73% (22.63%, 35.72%) | 23.87% (19.65%, 28.66%) | 0.075 |
| Semi-urgent | 35.07% (28.70%, 42.02%) | 31.73% (27.04%, 36.82%) | 0.084 |
| Non-urgent | 4.52% (2.19%, 9.11%) | 10.12% (6.66%, 15.08%) | <0.001 |
| Unknown | 24.53% (16.38%, 35.04%) | 24.77% (17.01%, 34.59%) | 0.891 |
| Primary payer | |||
| Private insurance | 26.05% (21.68%, 30.95%) | 18.29% (14.21%, 23.22%) | <0.001 |
| Medicare | 0.35% (0.17%, 0.72%)† | 0.38% (0.16%, 0.88%)† | 0.865 |
| Medicaid or CHIP | 60.91% (55.13%, 66.39%) | 65.80% (56.93%, 73.69%) | 0.03 |
| Self pay | 4.49% (3.11%, 6.42%) | 4.45% (2.92%, 6.72%) | 0.961 |
| Worker’s compensation | 0.03% (0.01%, 0.14%)† | 0.01% (0.00%, 0.06%)† | 0.382 |
| No charge/charity | 0.05% (0.01%, 0.40%)† | 0.12% (0.03%, 0.54%)† | 0.553 |
| Other | 1.36% (0.75%, 2.47%) | 1.38% (0.72%, 2.65%) | 0.963 |
| Unknown | 5.40% (2.31%, 12.12%) | 7.73% (2.69%, 20.25%) | 0.216 |
| Blank | 1.36% (0.47%, 3.92%) | 1.85% (0.63%, 5.31%) | 0.182 |
| Pain Scale | |||
| Blank/unknown | 55.91% (46.67%, 64.76%) | 87.46% (83.17%, 90.78%) | <0.001 |
| 0–4 score | 14.81% (11.08%, 19.52%) | 6.44% (4.43%, 9.27%) | <0.001 |
| 5–10 score | 29.28% (23.37%, 35.98%) | 6.10% (4.15%, 8.86%) | <0.001 |
CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program)
*Results are presented as weighted proportions with its 95% CIs.
†This represented cell sizes smaller than 30, which are considered not reliable for meaningful analysis by the NHAMCS guidelines.
ED, emergency department; EMS, emergency medical service; NHAMCS, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.