Overall | Boarding <14 hours | Boarding ≥14 hours | SMD for boarding | |
n | 22 447 | 14 357 | 8 029 | |
Patient characteristics | ||||
Age (years) (IQR) | 47 (32, 65) | 49 (33, 66) | 45 (30, 63) | 0.117 |
Male sex (%) | 12 127 (54) | 7688 (54) | 4406 (55) | 0.027 |
Admissions in previous year (%) | 0.0 (0.0, 0.0) | 0.0 (0.0, 0.0) | 0.0 (0.0, 0.0) | 0.037 |
No fixed address (%) | 1688 (7.5) | 1017 (7.1) | 666 (8.3) | 0.045 |
Family MD (%) | 14 672 (83.4) | 9422 (84.1) | 5206 (82.2) | 0.052 |
Primary psychiatric diagnosis | 0.176 | |||
Anxiety (%) | 446 (2.0) | 321 (2.2) | 124 (1.5) | |
Bipolar (%) | 1251 (5.6) | 744 (5.2) | 505 (6.3) | |
Conduct (%) | 103 (0.5) | 58 (0.4) | 45 (0.6) | |
Depression (%) | 2176 (9.7) | 1500 (10.4) | 671 (8.4) | |
Dissociative (%) | 109 (0.5) | 71 (0.5) | 38 (0.5) | |
Eating (%) | 73 (0.3) | 57 (0.4) | 16 (0.2) | |
Neurocognitive (%) | 4222 (18.8) | 2783 (19.4) | 1434 (17.9) | |
Neurodevelopmental (%) | 132 (0.6) | 67 (0.5) | 65 (0.8) | |
Obsessive (%) | 68 (0.3) | 45 (0.3) | 23 (0.3) | |
Other (%) | 159 (0.7) | 99 (0.7) | 59 (0.7) | |
Personality (%) | 608 (2.7) | 350 (2.4) | 250 (3.1) | |
Psychosis (%) | 3803 (16.9) | 2296 (16.0) | 1491 (18.6) | |
Somatic (%) | 85 (0.4) | 54 (0.4) | 31 (0.4) | |
Substance (%) | 6614 (29.5) | 4406 (30.7) | 2198 (27.4) | |
Trauma (%) | 2594 (11.6) | 1505 (10.5) | 1076 (13.4) | |
Secondary substance use (%) | 5428 (24.2) | 3311 (23.1) | 2103 (26.2) | 0.073 |
Alcohol (%)* | 6049 (26.9) | 4123 (28.7) | 1916 (23.9) | 0.110 |
Opioids (%)* | 672 (3.0) | 395 (2.8) | 276 (3.4) | 0.040 |
Cannabinoids (%)* | 1549 (6.9) | 849 (5.9) | 693 (8.6) | 0.105 |
Sedatives (%)* | 254 (1.1) | 174 (1.2) | 79 (1.0) | 0.022 |
Cocaine (%)* | 718 (3.2) | 413 (2.9) | 305 (3.8) | 0.051 |
Stimulant (%)* | 1152 (5.1) | 595 (4.1) | 555 (6.9) | 0.121 |
Hallucinogen (%)* | 35 (0.2) | 23 (0.2) | 12 (0.1) | 0.003 |
Demographic characteristics | ||||
Arrival means | 0.136 | |||
No ambulance (%) | 11 185 (49.8) | 7065 (49.2) | 4092 (51.0) | |
Air ambulance (%) | 21 (0.1) | 14 (0.1) | 7 (0.1) | |
Ground ambulance (%) | 10 385 (46.3) | 6853 (47.7) | 3499 (43.6) | |
Police (%) | 856 (3.8) | 425 (3.0) | 431 (5.4) | |
ED | ||||
CTAS score (IQR) | 2(2,3) | 2(2,3) | 2(2,3) | 0.038 |
Antipsychotic used (%) | 5431 (24.2) | 1940 (13.5) | 3490 (43.5) | 0.704 |
Sedative used (%) | 9188 (40.9) | 4799 (33.4) | 4383 (54.6) | 0.436 |
Restraints used (%) | 3577 (15.9) | 2091 (14.6) | 1477 (18.4) | 0.103 |
Mental health form (%) | 6254 (27.9) | 3408 (23.7) | 2812 (35.0) | 0.250 |
High observation bed (%) | 1607 (7.2) | 496 (3.5) | 1111 (13.8) | 0.376 |
MD assessment to admit (hours) (IQR) | 5.2 (3.5, 7.9) | 5.2 (3.5, 8.0) | 5.2 (3.5, 7.7) | 0.019 |
Boarding time (hours) (IQR) | 6.5 (1.9, 18.8) | 2.5 (1.4, 5.9) | 23 (18, 38) | 1.887 |
Total ED time (hours) (IQR) | 16.9 (8.6, 26.4) | 10.2 (6.8, 16.2) | 31 (25, 46) | 1.787 |
Primary outcome | ||||
Hospital length of stay (days) (IQR) | 8.4 (3.5, 25) | 8.6 (3.5, 25) | 8.1 (3.8, 26) | 0.025 |
SMD comparing differences between ≥14 hours and <14 hours boarding time.
*Primary or secondary substance use disorders
CTAS, Canadian Triage Acuity Scale, 1 is most urgent, 5 is least urgent; ED, emergency department; SMD, standardised mean difference.