Table 1 Baseline demographic, health, crash and injury-related characteristics by length of hospital stay

Self-reported days in hospital (mean, SD)

0.24 (0.43)

3.5 (1.3)

12.9 (6.6)

NA

Age (mean, SD)

39.7 (15.6)

43.1 (17.3)

45.5 (18.2)

< 0.0001

Male gender

784 (60.1)

372 (73.4)

149 (72.0)

< 0.0001

Country of birth

0.008

 Australia

899 (68.9)

374 (73.8)

161 (77.8)

 New Zealand

35 (2.7)

16 (3.2)

7 (3.4)

 United Kingdom

79 (6.1)

38 (7.5)

10 (4.8)

 Other

291 (22.3)

79 (15.6)

29 (14.0)

English as primary language

1171 (89.8)

478 (94.3)

188 (90.8)

0.01

Marital status

0.2

 Divorced, widowed or separated

127 (9.8)

50 (9.9)

27 (13.0)

 Married or de facto

640 (49.1)

269 (53.2)

104 (50.2)

 Never married

536 (41.1)

187 (37.0)

76 (36.7)

Recruitment source

< 0.0001

 RNSH or RPAH

778 (59.7)

227 (44.8)

67 (32.4)

 Orange, Dubbo or Bathurst hospital

103 (7.9)

132 (26.0)

59 (28.5)

 Other hospital

338 (25.9)

136 (26.8)

74 (35.8)

 Non-hospital

85 (6.5)

12 (2.4)

7 (3.4)

Educational level

< 0.0001

 Primary or pre-primary

70 (5.4)

38 (7.5)

18 (8.7)

 Secondary

375 (28.8)

167 (32.9)

72 (34.8)

 Technical or other further education

302 (23.2)

121 (23.9)

65 (31.4)

 Tertiary or university

556 (42.7)

181 (35.7)

52 (25.1)

Pre-injury paid work or self-employment

1011 (77.5)

378 (74.6)

143 (69.1)

0.02

Pre-injury income (Aust dollars)

0.5

 $0–20,799

53 (5.5)

17 (4.8)

10 (7.4)

 $20,800–41,599

151 (15.7)

52 (14.7)

28 (20.7)

 $41,600–64,999

263 (27.3)

94 (26.5)

40 (29.6)

 $65,000–103,999

277 (28.8)

105 (29.6)

30 (22.2)

 $104,000+

219 (22.7)

87 (24.5)

27 (20.0)

BMI (mean, SD)

26.1 (5.3)

26.6 (5.4)

26.9 (6.3)

0.1

Any pre-injury comorbidity on list of 18 specific items

726 (55.7)

286 (56.4)

128 (61.8)

0.2

Current smoking

222 (17.0)

87 (17.2)

40 (19.3)

0.7

Alcohol intake - audit-C score (mean, SD)

3.25 (2.56)

3.37 (2.54)

3.21 (2.86)

0.6

Crash type

< 0.0001

 Car driver

522 (40.1)

143 (28.2)

58 (28.2)

 Car passenger

143 (11.0)

47 (9.3)

13 (6.3)

 Motorbike driver or passenger

329 (25.3)

197 (38.9)

102 (49.5)

 Bicyclist

210 (16.1)

76 (15.0)

13 (6.3)

 Pedestrian or skateboard

99 (7.6)

44 (8.7)

20 (9.7)

Perceived danger of death

< 0.0001

 Overwhelming

120 (9.3)

59 (11.9)

28 (14.3)

 Great

182 (14.1)

87 (17.5)

43 (21.9)

 Moderate

238 (18.5)

101 (20.4)

52 (26.5)

 Small

265 (20.6)

96 (19.4)

28 (14.3)

 None

482 (37.5)

153 (30.9)

45 (23.0)

Perceived danger of disability

< 0.0001

 Overwhelming

102 (8.6)

62 (13.5)

34 (18.1)

 Great

195 (16.5)

99 (21.6)

44 (23.4)

 Moderate

303 (25.6)

111 (24.2)

49 (26.1)

 Small

293 (24.8)

94 (20.5)

32 (17.0)

 None

291 (24.6)

93 (20.3)

29 (15.4)

Self-report of psychological injury in accident

317 (24.3)

104 (20.5)

49 (24.7)

0.2

Self-report of regions injured

 Head or face

390 (29.9)

149 (29.4)

64 (30.9)

0.9

 Neck

508 (39.0)

119 (23.5)

39 (18.8)

< 0.0001

 Spine or back

520 (39.9)

175 (34.5)

82 (39.6)

0.1

 Torso

505 (38.7)

271 (53.5)

124 (59.9)

< 0.0001

 Upper extremity

893 (68.5)

351 (69.2)

122 (58.9)

0.017

 Lower extremity

707 (54.2)

306 (60.4)

144 (69.6)

< 0.0001

Self-report of predominant injury

< 0.0001

 Multiple areas

151 (13.0)

46 (9.9)

19 (9.7)

 Head/face

104 (9.0)

28 (6.0)

9 (4.6)

 Neck

143 (12.3)

19 (4.1)

9 (4.6)

 Spine/back

74 (6.4)

29 (6.3)

17 (8.7)

 Torso

212 (18.3)

123 (26.5)

56 (28.6)

 Lower extremity

198 (17.1)

115 (24.8)

68 (34.7)

 Upper extremity

278 (24.0)

104 (22.4)

18 (9.2)