https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9047-8141
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Abstract
Background
Emergency room (ER) physicians need to face clinically suspected pneumonia patients in the front line of medical care and must do to give major medical interventions if patients show severity in pneumonia.
Methods
The data of pneumonia-related ER visit rates were categorized based on the International Classification of Disease (ICD) Codes (480–486) between 1998 and 2012. We use an age-period-cohort (APC) model to separate the pneumonia-related ER visit rates to identify the effects of age, time period, and cohort for a total of 1,813,588 patients.
Results
The age effect showed high risk for pediatric and elder populations. There is a significant increasing period effect, which increased from 1998 to 2012. The cohort effect tended to show an oscillation from 1913 to 1988 and the reverse in a recent cohort. Furthermore, the visit rate of pneumonia showed an increase from 1998 to 2012 for both genders.
Conclusion
Age is a risk factor for pneumonia-related ER visits, especially for children and adolescents and older patients. Period and cohort effects were also found to increase the pneumonia visit rates. An APC model used to provide an advance clue for trend of pneumonia-related ER visit rates diversified.
Abbreviations
APC, age-period-cohort; CFR, case-fatality rate; ER, emergency rooms; EU, Europe Union; HAdV, human adenovirus; HPIV, human parainfluenza virus; HRV, human rhinovirus; ICD, International Classification of Disease; MOHW, Ministry of Health and Welfare; RSV, respiratory syncytial virus.
Data Sharing Statement
The datasets used analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request by emailing [email protected].
Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate
The present study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.
Consent for Publication
Not applicable in this study due to secondary data analysis.
Author Contributions
All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Disclosure
The authors report no competing interests with any organization with a direct or indirect financial interest in the subject matter discussed in the manuscript.