Objective
Evidence suggests interventions targeting low-acuity attendances have been hampered by insufficient characterisation of potential target groups. This study aimed to estimate the frequency of low-acuity emergency department (ED) attendances and to provide an overview of their demographic, diagnosis and consultation patterns.
Design
Observational analyses of routine healthcare data.
Setting
German EDs.
Participants
Adult patients with statutory health insurance who visited the ED of 16 participating hospitals in 2016.
Main outcome measures
Frequency, demographics, diagnoses and consultation patterns of low-acuity and high-acuity attendees.
Main results
Of the 454 747 ED visits, 370 756 visits (50.1% female) were included for analysis. Four participating hospitals had to be excluded due to the lack of data that were necessary for the stepwise approach to define low and high acuity. We identified 101 337 visits as low acuity (27.3%) and 256 876 as high acuity (69.3%), whereas 12 543 (3.4%) could not be classified. The proportion of attendees classified as low acuity decreased with age (highest at 40.6% in the age group