TABLE 1.
Sociodemographic Characteristics of Postoperative Admissions That Were Overtriaged to Intensive Care Units, Undertriaged to Hospital Wards, and Risk-Matched Controls
| Sociodemographic Characteristics | Overtriage N = 660 No (%) | Overtriage Control N = 3077 No (%) | Undertriage N = 2335 No (%) | Undertriage Controls N = 4774 No (%) | P * | P † | P ‡ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 289 (43.8) | 1750 (56.9) | 1148 (49.2) | 2043 (42.8) | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.02 |
| Male | 371 (56.2) | 1327 (43.1) | 1187 (50.8) | 2731 (57.2) | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.02 |
| Age (years), median [IQR] | 52 [36–64] | 54 [37–67] | 62 [52–73] | 60 [46.2–70] | 0.07 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Race | |||||||
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 2 (0.3) | 4 (0.1) | 2 (0.1) | 7 (0.1) | 0.29 | 0.73 | 0.21 |
| Asian | 5 (0.8) | 38 (1.2) | 16 (0.7) | 31 (0.6) | 0.42 | 0.88 | 0.79 |
| Black or African American | 125 (18.9) | 644 (20.9) | 663 (28.4) | 1165 (24.4) | 0.27 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 5 (0.1) | >0.99 | 0.18 | >0.99 |
| Other or multiracial | 38 (5.8) | 208 (6.8) | 112 (4.8) | 214 (4.5) | 0.39 | 0.55 | 0.31 |
| White | 486 (73.6) | 2155 (70.0) | 1521 (65.1) | 3310 (69.3) | 0.07 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Unknown | 4 (0.6) | 28 (0.9) | 21 (0.9) | 42 (0.9) | 0.64 | >0.99 | 0.63 |
| Rural residence | 167 (25.3) | 818 (26.6) | 575 (24.6) | 965 (20.2) | 0.77 | <0.001 | 0.72 |
| Area deprivation index | |||||||
| State rank, median [IQR] | 7.0 [5.0–9.0] | 7.0 [5.0–9.0] | 8.0 [5.0–9.0] | 8.0 [5.0–9.0] | 0.83 | 0.03 | 0.001 |
| National rank, median [IQR] | 68.0 [46.0–83.2] | 68.0 [46.0–85.0] | 72.0 [52.0–87.0] | 70.0 [50.0–87.0] | 0.97 | 0.03 | <0.001 |
| Social vulnerability index, median [IQR] | 0.57 [0.41–0.69] | 0.59 [0.41–0.68] | 0.60 [0.43–0.70] | 0.60 [0.43–0.73] | 0.82 | 0.59 | 0.007 |
| Payer | |||||||
| Blue Cross Blue Shield | 116 (17.6) | 597 (19.4) | 206 (8.8) | 634 (13.3) | 0.30 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| CMS | 1 (0.2) | 2 (0.1) | 4 (0.2) | 5 (0.1) | 0.44 | 0.49 | >0.99 |
| Commercial | 42 (6.4) | 78 (2.5) | 44 (1.9) | 226 (4.7) | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Federal non-CMS | 28 (4.2) | 91 (3.0) | 64 (2.7) | 169 (3.5) | 0.11 | 0.08 | 0.06 |
| Managed care | 67 (10.2) | 283 (9.2) | 107 (4.6) | 285 (6.0) | 0.46 | 0.02 | <0.001 |
| Medicaid | 21 (3.2) | 125 (4.1) | 92 (3.9) | 198 (4.1) | 0.32 | 0.70 | 0.42 |
| Medicaid HMO | 78 (11.8) | 398 (12.9) | 246 (10.5) | 476 (10.0) | 0.48 | 0.48 | 0.36 |
| Medicare | 125 (18.9) | 669 (21.7) | 870 (37.3) | 1,343 (28.1) | 0.12 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Medicare HMO | 80 (12.1) | 441 (14.3) | 527 (22.6) | 822 (17.2) | 0.15 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Self-pay | 42 (6.4) | 207 (6.7) | 72 (3.1) | 207 (4.3) | 0.80 | 0.01 | <0.001 |
| Workers’ compensation | 13 (2.0) | 37 (1.2) | 10 (0.4) | 45 (0.9) | 0.13 | 0.02 | <0.001 |
| Other or unknown | 47 (7.1) | 149 (4.8) | 93 (4.0) | 364 (7.6) | 0.02 | <0.001 | 0.002 |
P values correspond to significance tests comparing cohorts by each variable in the “Sociodemographic characteristics” column.
*Overtriage versus overtriage controls, which were ward admissions with risk profiles similar to those of overtriaged intensive care unit admissions.
†Undertriage versus undertriage controls, which were ICU admissions with risk profiles similar to those of undertriaged ward admissions.
‡Overtriage versus undertriage.
CMS, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; HMO, health maintenance organization; IQR, interquartile range.