Diagnostic errors in fatal medical malpractice cases in Shanghai, China: 1990–2015

Diagnostic Pathology

Table 4 Comparisons between diagnostic errors with patients’ age, gender, medical settings, specialty, and involved systems

Characteristics	I (n = 108)	II (n = 140)	III (n = 53)	IV (n = 115)	V (n = 55)	P value
Age, years						0.048
< 20	17	9	9	11	18
(20, 40]	19	27	8	27	10
(40, 60]	37	50	17	34	14
≥ 60	35	54	19	43	13
Gender						0.73
Female	39	55	18	50	17
Male	69	85	35	65	38
Medical settings						0.28
Tertiary	58	89	32	72	39
Secondary	42	44	19	36	13
Primary	8	7	2	7	3
Specialty						0.09
Internal	40	36	27	44	22
Surgery	26	50	10	41	16
Emergency	27	42	10	24	11
Other wards^a	15	12	6	6	6
Organ system						0.0002
Circulatory	20	73	11	28	16
Respiratory	49	33	20	39	20
Digestive	31	19	16	28	10
Other systems^b	8	15	6	20	9

^aincludes departments of pediatrics, obstetrics, psychiatry, dermatology, traditional Chinese medicine and EENT
^bincludes central nervous system, urogenital system and endocrine and metabolic system etc

ISSN: 1746-1596