Table 2: Pre-admission characteristics.

All patients 18-59 years (n = 377) 60 years and above (n = 484)
N = 861 Medical n = 217 Surgical n = 160 Medical n = 320 Surgical n = 164
Males n (%) 567 (66%) 145 (67%) 121 (75%) 121 (75%) 199 (62%)
Charlson comorbidity index, mean ± SD 2.3 ± 2.2 2.0 ± 2.2 0.7 ± 1.3* 3.0 ± 2.2 2.7 ± 2.1
Chronic disease n (%)
Known chronic disease 672 (78%) 157 (72%) 69 (43%)* 298 (93%) 148 (90%)
No prior chronic disease 189 (22%) 60 (28%) 91 (57%)* 22 (7%) 16 (10%)
Common chronic disease categories¹
Cardiovascular disease n (%) 343 (40%) 45 (21%) 21 (13%) 195 (61%) 82 (50%)
Chronic pulmonary disease n (%) 167 (20%) 24 (11%) 9 (6%) 101 (32%) 33 (21%)
Diabetes n (%) 136 (16%) 29 (13%) 4 (3%) 70 (22%) 33 (20%)
Polyfarmacy, regular medication n (%)
None 213 (25%) 70 (32%) 97 (61%)* 27 (9%) 19 (12%)
1-4 358 (42%) 93 (43%) 49 (31%) 113 (35%) 102 (62%)
5-7 145 (17%) 26 (12%) 8 (5%) 85 (27%) 26 (16%)
≥ 8 145 (17%) 28 (13%) 6 (4%) 94 (29%) 17 (10%)
Living situation n (%)
Home without home care 679 (79%) 178 (82%) 143 (89%)* 221 (69%) 137 (84%)*
Home with home care 90 (10%) 13 (6%) 2 (1%) 63 (20%) 12 (7%)
Nursing home or institution 50 (6%) 6 (3%) 0 (0%) 30 (9%) 14 (9%)
Homeless 11 (1%) 6 (3%) 4 (2%) 1 (0.3%) 0
Other² 24 (3%) 11 (5%) 8 (6%) 4 (1%) 0
Unknown 8 (1%) 3 (1%) 3 (2%) 1 (0.3%) 1 (0.6%)
1Each patient may have more than one disease; 2Incl. psychiatric and drug abuse institutions; *p < 0.05.