At the individual level, the strongest correlate for both sexes was urgency, although odds ratio differences between correlates were mainly statistically nonsignificant (Table 1).
LR+=likelihood ratio for high urgency triage test result, LR−=likelihood ratio for low urgency triage test result.
Cox-proportional hazard models were developed, adjusting for age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), region, and urgency score, with greater hazard ratios (HR) indicating shorter wait times.
Sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios for high urgency (immediate and very urgent) and 95% confidence intervals for subgroups based on age, use of flowcharts, and discriminators.
15 We calculated sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios for classification as high urgency and low urgency (likelihood ratio+=sensitivity/(1−specificity) and likelihood ratio−=(1−sensitivity)/specificity).
For each URG v, the urgency coefficient (γ v ) was stated by the ratio between the MTBT of the least urgent URG (i.e. URG D) and the MTBT of the corresponding URG.
The likelihood ratio was 3.095%5% confidence interval 2.8 to 3.2) for high urgency and 0.5 (0.4 to 0.5) for low urgency; though the likelihood ratios were lower for those presenting with a medical problem (2.3 (2.2 to 2.5) v 12.0 (7.8 to 18.0) for trauma) and in younger children (2.4 (1.9 to 2.9) at 0-3 months v 5.4 (4.5 to 6.5) at 8-16 years).
The proportion varied significantly across urgency groups.
Culture-negative patients had a significantly increased risk of death in hospital (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] ranging between 3.1 and 4.4 depending on admission urgency, extent of comorbidities, and whether the blood culture was taken in the intensive care unit).
Hazard ratios are for each 1 unit change in the urgency score † Compared to reference of 20-39 yr female ** compared to income quintile 1, which is lowest income category.
