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Table 1 Patient characteristics
| Variable | Baseline | Academic detailing | Computerised decision support | Pvalue# | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N = 392 | N = 215 | N = 133 | |||||
| Age: median (range) | 74 | (18–96) | 73 | (18–98) | 79 | (18–98) | 0.05 |
| Sex Female: n (%) | 158 | 40.0% | 100 | 46.0% | 60 | 45.1% | 0.29 |
| Nursing home residents: n (%) | 55 | 14.0% | 31 | 14.0% | 18 | 13.5% | 0.97 |
| Suspected aspiration: n (%) | 39 | 9.9% | 20 | 9.3% | 7 | 5.3% | 0.25 |
| Antibiotics prior to ED: n (%) | 100 | 25.5% | 54 | 25.1% | 18 | 13.5% | 0.01 |
| Known beta lactam allergy n (%) | 42 | 10.7% | 23 | 10.6% | 21 | 15.8% | 0.25 |
| Non-immediate | 13 | 6 | 15 | ||||
| Uncertain | 21 | 17 | 2 | ||||
| Immediate | 8 | 0 | 4 | ||||
| PSI class (%) | |||||||
| I | 11.9% | 13.4% | 12.8% | ||||
| II | 14.5% | 17.2% | 14.3% | ||||
| III | 17.3% | 14.8% | 11.3% | ||||
| IV | 33.4% | }56.1% | 28.8% | }54.4% | 31.5% | }61.6% | 0.39 |
| V | 22.7% | 25.6% | 30.1% | ||||
| CURB severe n (%) | 182 | 46.4% | 96 | 44.6% | 55 | 41.3% | 0.65 |
| ICU admission any time n (%) | 26 | 6.6% | 12 | 5.6% | 10 | 7.5% | 0.76 |
| Length of stay – days, median (range) | 4 | (1–76) | 4 | (1–51) | 4 | (1–41) | 0.93 |
| Death: Total n (%) | 37 | 9.4% | 14 | 6.5% | 21 | 15.7% | 0.15* |
| Death: (excl. died in ED) n (%) | 35/390 | 8.9% | 12/213 | 6.5% | 16/128 | 7.8% | 0.23* |
| Comorbidities: (%) | |||||||
| CCF | 20.4 | 15.3 | 18.0 | 0.30 | |||
| COAD | 23.4 | 15.3 | 26.3 | 0.02 | |||
| Neoplasia | 13.7 | 14.4 | 16.5 | 0.73 | |||
| CRF | 11.9 | 13.0 | 12.7 | 0.92 | |||
| Dementia | 13.2 | 14.4 | 21.0 | 0.09 | |||
| Alcohol | 9.6 | 7.9 | 5.2 | 0.27 | |||
| CVA | 18.8 | 17.6 | 12.8 | 0.27 | |||
| Diabetes | 22.2 | 22.7 | 19.5 | 0.76 | |||
| Age >85 | 19.6 | 12.5 | 27.0 | <0.01 | |||
