Table 1.

Characteristics of patients according to types of hospital admission* in Hong Kong in 2007

	Unplanned Readmission n(Col %)	Other Admission n(Col %)	Total n(Col %)	P-value†
	(N = 56,329)	(N = 281,365)	(N = 337,694)
Age (n)	56,328	281,307	337,635	<0.001
(mean, SD)	75.2(14.6)	68.4(17.7)	69.5 (17.4)
Sex
Male	30,274(53.7)	147,684(52.5)	177,958(52.7)	<0.001
Female	26,055(46.3)	133,681(47.5)	159,736(47.3)
Public assistance‡
Yes	24,967(44.3)	78,954(28.1)	103,921(30.8)	<0.001
No	31,362(55.7)	202,411(71.9)	233,773(69.2)
Lived in elderly home
Yes	19,462(34.6)	46,229(16.4)	65,691(19.5)	<0.001
No	36,867(65.5)	235,136(83.6)	272,003(80.6)
Admitted cluster
Cluster 1	9,018(16.0)	42,536(15.1)	51,554(15.3)	<0.001
Cluster 2	16,467(29.2)	81,699(29.0)	98,166(29.1)
Cluster 3	7,826(13.9)	35,170(12.5)	42,996(12.7)
Cluster 4	6,260(11.1)	35,727(12.7)	41,987(12.4)
Cluster 5	6,290(11.2)	31,615(11.2)	37,905(11.2)
Cluster 6	4,423(7.9)	26,824(9.5)	31,247(9.3)
Cluster 7	6,045(10.7)	27,794(9.9)	33,839(10.0)
Length of stay
Acute bed day (n)	56,324	281,343	337,667	<0.001
(mean, SD)	5.8(7.4)	5.0(7.4)	5.2(7.4)
Sub-acute bed day (n)	56,329	281,365	337,694	<0.001
(mean, SD)	0.8(9.8)	0.7(9.3)	0.7(5.2)
Total bed day (n)	56,324	281,343	337,667	<0.001
(mean, SD)	6.6(9.8)	5.8(9.3)	5.9(9.4)
Health Outcome
Live	51,312(91.1)	269,120(95.7)	320,432(94.9)	<0.001
Dead	5,012(8.9)	12,223(4.3)	17,235(5.1)

*Hospital admissions were grouped into two types: (1) Unplanned readmission - the patient re-admitted again to hospital within 30 days after his/her last hospital admission & (2) Other admission - included all other hospital admitted episodes except the unplanned readmission one.

†Chi-square tests/T-tests

‡only include those who are receiving assistance from the government such as Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) in Hong Kong