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Table 1 Yield of follow-up efforts and reasons for dropout

From: Emergency department consultations for respiratory symptoms revisited: exploratory investigation of longitudinal trends in patients’ perspective on care, health care utilization, and general and mental health, from a multicenter study in Berlin, Germany

Patients

n

For lost to follow-up: % of 143 patients

Baseline survey

472

Follow-up survey

329

Lost to follow-up

143

100.0

Died

15

10.5

Could not be reached: moved with no forwarding address obtainable (incl. to other countries), invalid phone/e-mail, or not answering at multiple contact attempts

73

51.0

Patient reached and consented to follow-up, but did not return questionnaire

19

13.3

Patient reached, but refused to participate

36

25.2

Most frequent reasons stated:

 Language barrier

12

8.4

 Time constraints

6

4.2

 Health status

6

4.2