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. 2023 Mar 9;51(4):1103–1115. doi: 10.1007/s15010-023-02013-y

Table 2.

Baseline characteristics

All Cluster 1 Cluster 2 Cluster 3
N = 315 (100%) N = 229 (73%) N = 47 (15%) N = 39 (12%)
Age 80 (15 |27–98|) 83 (15 |43–97|) 80 (10 |54–84|) 73 (23 |33–79|)
Age ≥ 85 108 (34%) 108 (47%)
Age < 70 51 (16%) 31 (14%) 7 (15%) 13 (33%)
Female sex 136 (43%) 99 (43%) 23 (49%) 14 (36%)
Clinical frailty scale, CFS 6 (3) 6 (2) 6 (2) 4 (1)
0–3 27 (9%) 9 (4%) 6 (13%) 12 (31%)
4 65 (21%) 41 (18%) 7 (15%) 18 (46%)
5 47 (15%) 32 (14%) 6 (13%) 9 (23%)
6 71 (23%) 43 (19%) 28 (60%)
7–9 104 (33%) 104 (45%)
Living condition
Home without home nursing 120 (38%) 67 (29%) 18 (38%) 35 (90%)
Home with home nursing 118 (37%) 91 (40%) 22 (49%) 4 (10%)
Nursing home 77 (24%) 71 (31%) 6 (13%) 0
Hospitalized prior year 223 (71%) 172 (75%) 29 (62%) 22 (56%)
Number of stays 3 (5) 3 (5) 4 (6) 2.5 (3)
Days hospitalized 16 (22) 15 (23) 17 (24) 16 (20)
Charlson comorbidity index, CCI 3 (4) 3 (4) 3 (6) 2 (4)
0–2, mild comorbidity 126 (40%) 83 (36%) 15 (32%) 28 (72%)
3–4, moderate comorbidity 88 (28%) 64 (28%) 13 (28%) 11 (28%)
 ≥ 5, severe comorbidity 101 (32%) 82 (36%) 19 (40%)
CCI, age adjusted 7 (4) 7 (3) 7 (6) 5 (4)
COPD 103 (33%) 67 (29%) 18 (38%) 18 (46%)
Diabetes 93 (30%) 62 (27%) 23 (49%) 8 (21%)
Heart failure 90 (29%) 68 (30%) 15 (32%) 7 (18%)
Prior stroke/TIA 78 (25%) 59 (26%) 15 (32%) 4 (10%)
Prior myocardial infarction 77 (24%) 54 (24%) 14 (30%) 9 (23%)
Dementia 53 (17%) 48 (21%) 4 (9%) 1 (3%)
Peripheral vascular disease 44 (14%) 29 (13%) 13 (28%) 2 (5%)
Rheumatological disease 36 (11%) 22 (10%) 10 (21%) 4 (10%)
Moderate–severe kidney disease* 20 (6%) 9 (4%) 10 (21%) 1 (3%)
Cancer 87 (28%) 78 (34%) 5 (11%) 4 (10%)
Other advanced condition, e.g., neuromuscular disease 32 (10%) 21 (9%) 6 (13%) 5 (13%)
End-stage condition 93 (30%) 93 (41%)
Immunosuppression 54 (17%) 43 (19%) 7 (15%) 4 (10%)
Daily medications 7 (6) 7 (4) 9 (6) 5 (10)
Polypharmacy, ≥ 5 234 (75%) 172 (75%) 39 (83%) 23 (59%)
Major polypharmacy, ≥ 10 81 (26%) 53 (23%) 22 (47%) 6 (15%)

Values are number (proportion) or median (IQR, |range|). Cluster 1: Age ≥ 85, CFS ≥ 7 or end-stage condition. Cluster 2: Age ≥ 80, CFS 6 or CCI ≥ 5. Cluster 3: Neither cluster 1 nor cluster 2

COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, TIA transient ischemic attack

*Creatinine > 3 mg/dL (0.27 mmol/L), or post-kidney transplant, on dialysis or uremia