A comparison of patient characteristics by mode of arrival for patients with an emergency diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome and unspecified chest pain
| Acute coronary syndrome (n=124 632) | Unspecified chest pain (n=536 148) | |||||
| EMS arrival n (%) | GP referral n (%) | Self-presented n (%) | EMS arrival n (%) | GP referral n (%) | Self-presented n (%) | |
| Sex | ||||||
| Male | 44 961 (61.7) | 6594 (63.8) | 27 869 (68.2) | 107 413 (50.6) | 22 526 (50.2) | 150 657 (54.5) |
| Female | 27 857 (38.3) | 3737 (36.2) | 13 009 (31.8) | 104 801 (49.4) | 22 330 (49.8) | 125 803 (45.5) |
| Age (years) | ||||||
| 20–44 | 2982 (4.1) | 627 (6.1) | 3850 (9.4) | 34 560 (16.3) | 11 821 (26.3) | 102 871 (37.2) |
| 45–64 | 21 012 (28.9) | 4023 (38.9) | 19 266 (47.1) | 75 179 (35.4) | 19 087 (42.6) | 115 933 (41.9) |
| 65+ | 48 824 (67.0) | 5681 (55.0) | 17 762 (43.5) | 102 475 (48.3) | 13 948 (31.1) | 57 656 (20.9) |
| Country of birth | ||||||
| Australia | 41 839 (57.5) | 5933 (57.4) | 23 420 (57.3) | 132 436 (62.4) | 26 722 (59.6) | 179 911 (65.1) |
| Overseas | 30 979 (42.5) | 4398 (42.6) | 17 458 (42.7) | 79 778 (37.6) | 18 134 (40.4) | 96 549 (34.9) |
| Preferred language | ||||||
| English | 65 295 (89.7) | 9297 (90.0) | 37 076 (90.7) | 193 702 (91.3) | 40 908 (91.2) | 258 867 (93.6) |
| Other | 7523 (10.3) | 1034 (10.0) | 3802 (9.3) | 18 512 (8.7) | 3948 (8.8) | 17 593 (6.4) |
| Interpreter required | ||||||
| No | 68 520 (94.1) | 9725 (94.1) | 38 757 (94.8) | 202 510 (95.4) | 42 746 (95.3) | 267 865 (96.9) |
| Yes | 4298 (5.9) | 606 (5.9) | 2121 (5.2) | 9704 (4.6) | 2110 (4.7) | 8595 (3.1) |
| Household | ||||||
| Lives with others | 64 574 (88.7) | 9298 (90.0) | 37 943 (92.8) | 190 977 (90.0) | 41 837 (93.3) | 261 553 (94.6) |
| Lives alone | 8244 (11.3) | 1033 (10.0) | 2935 (7.2) | 21 237 (10.0) | 3019 (6.7) | 14 907 (5.4) |
| Residence | ||||||
| Major city | 53 811 (73.9) | 6670 (64.6) | 29 603 (72.4) | 160 621 (75.7) | 33 361 (74.4) | 201 513 (72.9) |
| Other | 19 007 (26.1) | 3661 (35.4) | 11 275 (27.6) | 51 593 (24.3) | 11 495 (25.6) | 74 947 (27.1) |
| Season | ||||||
| Winter | 19 382 (26.6) | 2796 (27.1) | 10 485 (25.6) | 54 183 (25.5) | 11 936 (26.6) | 70 949 (25.7) |
| Other | 53 436 (73.4) | 7535 (72.9) | 30 393 (74.4) | 158 031 (74.5) | 32 920 (73.4) | 205 511 (74.3) |
| ACS subtype* | ||||||
| No | 33 231 (45.6) | 4899 (47.4) | 21 048 (51.5) | – | – | – |
| Yes | 39 587 (54.4) | 5432 (52.6) | 19 830 (48.5) | |||
| Admitted | ||||||
| No | 5068 (7.0) | 742 (7.2) | 3441 (8.4) | 80 150 (37.8) | 25 386 (56.6) | 162 872 (58.9) |
| Yes | 67 750 (93.0) | 9589 (92.8) | 37 437 (91.6) | 132 064 (62.2) | 19 470 (43.4) | 113 588 (41.1) |
*Based on emergency department diagnosis for this admission.
ACS, acute coronary syndrome; EMS, emergency medical services; GP, general practitioner.