Baseline characteristics of patients who presented to the emergency department, stratified by multimorbidity status. Data are number (percentage), unless otherwise specified
| No. of patients | All (n=451 291) | No multimorbidity (n=407 787) | Multimorbidity (43 504) |
| Patient characteristics | |||
| Age, median (interquartile range) years | 46 (29-64) | 43 (28-60) | 73 (58-82) |
| Sex: | |||
| Women | 225 893 (50.1) | 203 776 (50.0) | 22 117 (50.8) |
| Men | 225 384 (49.9) | 203 997 (50.0) | 21 387 (49.2) |
| Ethnic group: | |||
| African/black | 2890 (0.6) | 2780 (0.7) | 110 (0.3) |
| Asian | 8739 (1.9) | 8261 (2.0) | 478 (1.1) |
| Other or multiple groups | 14 518 (3.2) | 14 154 (3.5) | 364 (0.8) |
| Refused, unknown, or missing | 73 646 (16.3) | 69 558 (17.1) | 4088 (9.4) |
| White | 351 498 (77.9) | 313 034 (76.8) | 38 464 (88.4) |
| Scottish index of multiple deprivation: | |||
| 1 (most deprived) | 63 374 (14.0) | 56 160 (13.8) | 7214 (16.6) |
| 2 | 101 736 (22.5) | 90 340 (22.2) | 11 396 (26.2) |
| 3 | 80 942 (17.9) | 73 266 (18.0) | 7676 (17.6) |
| 4 | 82 596 (18.3) | 75 617 (18.5) | 6979 (16.0) |
| 5 (least deprived) | 114 134 (25.3) | 104 223 (25.6) | 9911 (22.8) |
| Scottish index of multiple deprivation unknown | 8509 (1.9) | 8181 (2.0) | 328 (0.8) |
| Previous health status | |||
| Emergency department attendances: | |||
| None in previous year | 371 391 (82.3) | 347 265 (85.2) | 24 126 (55.5) |
| One in previous year | 56 363 (12.5) | 45 943 (11.3) | 10 420 (24.0) |
| Two or more in previous year | 23 537 (5.2) | 14 579 (3.6) | 8958 (20.6) |
| Hospital admissions: | |||
| None in previous year | 376 573 (83.4) | 361 529 (88.7) | 15 044 (34.6) |
| One in previous year | 47 007 (10.4) | 34 429 (8.4) | 12 578 (28.9) |
| Two or more in previous year | 27 711 (6.1) | 11 829 (2.9) | 15 882 (36.5) |
| Illness severity | |||
| Referral: | |||
| 999 emergency | 102 090 (22.6) | 81 964 (20.1) | 20 126 (46.3) |
| Flow centre | 11 349 (2.5) | 9067 (2.2) | 2282 (5.2) |
| GP | 27 568 (6.1) | 22 826 (5.6) | 4742 (10.9) |
| NHS24 | 32 710 (7.2) | 29 930 (7.3) | 2780 (6.4) |
| Other | 18 412 (4.1) | 16 631 (4.1) | 1781 (4.1) |
| Self-referral | 248 619 (55.1) | 238 207 (58.4) | 10 412 (23.9) |
| Unscheduled care services | 10 332 (2.3) | 8965 (2.2) | 1367 (3.1) |
| Arrival mode: | |||
| Emergency ambulance | 121 852 (27.0) | 96 693 (23.7) | 25 159 (57.8) |
| Urgent ambulance | 8079 (1.8) | 5274 (1.3) | 2805 (6.4) |
| Private transport | 272 967 (60.5) | 260 279 (63.8) | 12 688 (29.2) |
| Public transport | 34 666 (7.7) | 33 250 (8.2) | 1416 (3.3) |
| Other | 13 194 (2.9) | 11 800 (2.9) | 1394 (3.2) |
| Triage: | |||
| Immediate resuscitation | 19 779 (4.4) | 14 906 (3.7) | 4873 (11.2) |
| Very urgent | 47 860 (10.6) | 37 627 (9.2) | 10 233 (23.5) |
| Urgent | 165 130 (36.6) | 145 743 (35.7) | 19 387 (44.6) |
| Standard | 128 132 (28.4) | 122 658 (30.1) | 5474 (12.6) |
| Non-urgent | 1188 (0.3) | 1148 (0.3) | 40 (0.1) |
| See and treat | 67 157 (14.9) | 65 788 (16.1) | 1369 (3.1) |
| Medical expected | 8522 (1.9) | 6906 (1.7) | 1616 (3.7) |
| Suitable for redirection | 3227 (0.7) | 3143 (0.8) | 84 (0.2) |
| Time variables | |||
| Time of attendance: | |||
| 0600-1159 | 114 364 (25.3) | 104 279 (25.6) | 10 085 (23.2) |
| 1200-1759 | 162 154 (35.9) | 146 237 (35.9) | 15 917 (36.6) |
| 1800-2359 | 124 318 (27.5) | 112 345 (27.5) | 11 973 (27.5) |
| 0000-0559 | 50 451 (11.2) | 44 922 (11.0) | 5529 (12.7) |
| Month of attendance: | |||
| January to March | 108 783 (24.1) | 97 784 (24.0) | 10 999 (25.3) |
| April to June | 112 486 (24.9) | 101 722 (24.9) | 10 764 (24.7) |
| July to September | 114 987 (25.5) | 104 410 (25.6) | 10 577 (24.3) |
| October to December | 115 035 (25.5) | 103 871 (25.5) | 11 164 (25.7) |
| Year of attendance: | |||
| 2012 | 53 176 (11.8) | 46 539 (11.4) | 6637 (15.3) |
| 2013 | 52 474 (11.6) | 46 940 (11.5) | 5534 (12.7) |
| 2014 | 55 238 (12.2) | 49 698 (12.2) | 5540 (12.7) |
| 2015 | 53 450 (11.8) | 48 290 (11.8) | 5160 (11.9) |
| 2016 | 55 546 (12.3) | 50 412 (12.4) | 5134 (11.8) |
| 2017 | 56 759 (12.6) | 51 780 (12.7) | 4979 (11.4) |
| 2018 | 59 188 (13.1) | 54 106 (13.3) | 5082 (11.7) |
| 2019 | 65 460 (14.5) | 60 022 (14.7) | 5438 (12.5) |
Multimorbidity defined as the presence of two or more long term conditions, derived from the Elixhauser index conditions.