Retrospective cohort study of the characteristics of traveller patients presenting to the accident and emergency department of a regional hospital in Hong Kong

Abstract

Background: Traveller patients have distinctive clinical characteristics compared to non-traveller patients. Local information about the clinical features of traveller patients is lacking. Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical characteristics of traveller patients presenting to a hospital near the Hong Kong International Airport. Methods: This was a single-centred, retrospective cohort study. Medical records of all traveller patients presenting to the Accident and Emergency Department of North Lantau Hospital in Hong Kong from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 were reviewed. The demographics, triage category, presentation, outcomes and disposal were retrospectively evaluated and compared between traveller and non-traveller patients. Results: There were 528 traveller patients attending the Accident and Emergency Department of North Lantau Hospital during the study period, constituting 0.6% of total annual attendance. About one-third of the traveller patients required admission. The most common discharge diagnoses were gastrointestinal diseases (14.8%), followed by trauma (12.9%) and other neurological diseases (12.9%). Traveller patients had a higher rate of being triaged as critical and emergency categories (p < 0.001), higher admission rate (p < 0.001), higher need for active resuscitation (p < 0.001) and escort (p < 0.001) when compared to non-traveller patients. Around 1.3% of traveller patients presented with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and were eventually certified dead in Accident and Emergency Department. Conclusion: The traveller population constitutes a small proportion of the patient population, but they can have a significant impact on the Accident and Emergency Departments in high-impact traveller areas. Additional resources such as manpower support and training programmes would be beneficial for Accident and Emergency Departments in high-impact traveller areas.