Patient demographics and clinical characteristics according to presence of diagnostic error, among 376 patents readmitted within 7 days of discharge
| Characteristic | Index admissions with diagnostic error (n=21) | Index admissions without diagnostic error (n=355) | P value |
| Mean age, years (SD) | 63.7 (19.1) | 60.3 (19.2) | 0.44 |
| Female sex (%) | 10 (47.6) | 184 (51.8) | 0.71 |
| Length of stay (days) | 0.08 | ||
| Mean (SD) | 7.6 (14.2) | 6.7 (6.9) | |
| Median (25–75 percentiles) | 2.9 (2.1–4.9) | 4.3 (2.5–8.0) | |
| Length of ICU stay (days) | 0.63 | ||
| Mean (SD) | 0.8 (2.5) | 0.7 (2.5) | |
| Median (25–75 percentiles) | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | |
| Primary race (%) | 0.95 | ||
| Asian | 4 (19.1) | 76 (21.4) | |
| Black or African–American | 3 (14.3) | 66 (18.6) | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 2 (9.5) | 40 (11.3) | |
| White or Caucasian | 11 (52.4) | 153 (43.1) | |
| Other | 1 (4.8) | 20 (5.6) | |
| English as primary language (%) | 18 (85.7) | 296 (83.4) | 0.78 |
| Insurance coverage type (%) | 0.73 | ||
| Medicare | 9 (42.9) | 181 (51.0) | |
| Medi-Cal | 8 (38.1) | 97 (27.3) | |
| Private insurance | 4 (19.1) | 74 (20.9) | |
| Self-pay | 0 (0) | 3 (0.9) | |
| Admitting service (%) | 0.96 | ||
| Hospital medicine | 20 (95.2) | 338 (95.5) | |
| Other | 1 (4.8) | 16 (4.5) | |
| Admitting source (%) | 0.50 | ||
| Direct admission | 0 (0) | 24 (6.8) | |
| Emergency department | 19 (90.5) | 271 (76.3) | |
| Outside transfer | 1 (4.8) | 26 (7.3) | |
| Other or unknown | 1 (4.8) | 34 (9.6) | |
| Admitted by primary team (%) | 8 (38.1) | 150 (42.3) | 0.71 |
| Discharging team (%) | 0.08 | ||
| Teaching team | 11 (52.4) | 250 (70.4) | |
| Direct care team | 10 (47.6) | 105 (29.6) | |
| Disposition (%) | 0.44 | ||
| Home | 10 (47.6) | 179 (50.4) | |
| Home with services | 3 (14.3) | 90 (25.4) | |
| Assisted living/intermediate care facility | 0 (0) | 7 (2.0) | |
| Skilled nursing facility | 5 (23.8) | 52 (14.7) | |
| Against medical advice | 3 (14.3) | 22 (6.2) | |
| Other | 0 (0) | 5 (1.4) | |
| Elixhauser comorbidity score, mean (SD) | 7.7 (11.7) | 12.7 (11.9) | 0.045 |
| Elixhauser readmission score, mean (SD) | 21.8 (18.0) | 25.6 (17.4) | 0.09 |
ICU, intensive care unit.