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Table 3 Demographics and pre-hospital characteristics for 7,133 patients treated by the Danish Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (2014-2018)a

From: Characteristics of patients treated by the Danish Helicopter Emergency Medical Service from 2014-2018: a nationwide population-based study

 

Air lifted

Ground escorted

Assisted

Total

patients

patients

patients

 

n = 4,639 (%)

n = 174 (%)

n = 2,320 (%)

n = 7,133 (%)

Gender

 Male (%)

3,051 (66%)

114 (66%)

1,381 (60%)

4,546 (64%)

 Female (%)

1,468 (32%)

57 (33%)

818 (35%)

2,343 (33%)

Age

 

56,5 (32-72)

  

 median age, years (IQR)

61 (47-72)

 

56 (29,5-71))

60 (42-72)

 <1 month (%)

16 (0,3%)

1 (0,6%)

14 (0,6%)

31 (0,4%)

 1 month-1 year (%)

80 (2%)

8 (5%)

80 (3%)

168 (2%)

 2-17 years (%)

270 (6%)

21 (12%)

200 (9%)

491 (7%)

 18-66 years (%)

2,468 (53%)

82 (47%)

1,174 (51%)

3,724 (52%)

 67+ years (%)

1,765 (38%)

60 (34%)

799 (34%)

2,624 (37%)

Pre-hospital diagnostic groups

 Cardio-vascular (%)

2,004 (43%)

54 (31%)

874 (38%)

2,932 (41%)

  Acute myocardial infarction

1,030 (51%)b

2 (1%)b

8 (1%)b

1,040 (35%)b

  Cardiac arrest

588 (29%)b

42 (24%)b

586 (67%)b

1,216 (41%)b

 Neurology (%)

851 (18%)

29 (17%)

258 (11%)

1,138 (16%)

 Respiratory (%)

121 (3%)

19 (11%)

63 (3%)

203 (3%)

 Trauma (%)

999 (22%)

42 (24%)

592 (26%)

1,633 (23%)

 Burns (%)

121 (3%)

4 (2%)

28 (1%)

153 (2%)

 Poisoning (%)

9 (0,2%)

0

13 (0,6%)

22 (0,3%)

 Obstetric (%)

6 (0,1%)

0

1 (0,04%)

7 (0,1%)

 Abdominal (%)

113 (2%)

2 (1%)

42 (2%)

157 (2%)

 Other medical condition (%)

415 (9%)

24 (14%)

449 (19%)

888 (12%)

Severity according to NACA score

 NACA 0 (%)

2 (0,04%)

0

14 (0,6%)

16 (0,2%)

 NACA 1 (%)

7 (0,2%)

1 (0,6%)

97 (4%)

105 (2%)

 NACA 2 (%)

143 (3%)

3 (2%)

363 (16%)

509 (7%)

 NACA 3 (%)

1,205 (26%)

29 (17%)

906 (39%)

2,140 (30%)

 NACA 4 (%)

1,983 (43%)

68 (39%)

239 (10%)

2,290 (32%)

 NACA 5 (%)

678 (15%)

30 (17%)

26 (1%)

734 (10%)

 NACA 6 (%)

596 (13%)

41 (24%)

44 (2%)

681 (10%)

 NACA 7 (%)

22 (0,5%)

2 (1%)

627 (27%)

651 (9%)

NACA score - non-critical vs. critical emergency

 NACA 0-3 (%)

1,357 (29%)

33 (19%)

1,380 (59%)

2,770 (39%)

 NACA 4-7 (%)

3,279 (71%)

141 (81%)

936 (40%)

4,356 (61%)

Intervention

 Intubation (%)

1,082 (23%)

48 (28%)

329 (14%)

1,459 (21%)

  by HEMS

626

41

213

880

  by other

456

7

116

579

 Blood administration (%)

141 (3%)

7 (4%)

47 (2%)

195 (3%)

 Intraosseous access (%)

255 (6%)

15 (9%)

192 (8%)

462 (7%)

 ACCD (%)

297 (6%)

21 (12%)

210 (9%)

528 (7%)

 Ultrasound examination (%)

932 (20%)

51 (29%)

558 (24%)

1,541 (22%)

 Chest tube/thoracostomi (%)

28 (0,6%)

2 (1%)

10 (0,4%)

40 (0,6%)

 At least one intervention performed (%)

1,636 (35%)

85 (49%)

707 (30%)

2,428 (34%)

Mission outcome for ground assisted patients (n=2320)

 Completed on scene (%)

  

144 (6%)

 

 Admitted to hospital by ambulance (%)

  

1,171 (51%)

 

 Admitted to hospital by paramedic/nurse (%)

  

155 (7%)

 

 Escorted by rapid response vehicle (%)

  

222 (10%)

 

 Patient dead on scene (%)

  

46 (2%)

 

 Patient inaccessible

  

1 (0,04%)

 

 Standby

  

2 (0,1%)

 

 Patient pronounced dead on scene (%)

  

576 (25%)

 

 No information

  

3 (0,1%)

 

Mission to an Island not connected by road to the mainland

 Total (%)

867 (19%)

3 (1,7%)

106 (5%)

976 (14%)

  1. aThe total number of measurements in each of the variables is not in agreement with the total number of patients in the three groups due to missing data. Missing data varied from 0,1-4,3% across the variables
  2. bThe per centages presented for AMI and cardiac arrest represent proportions in relation to the cardio-vascular diagnostic group