Table 3. Characteristics of the patient and control groups.

	Patients	Controls	p-values
Female/male (%)	62/38 (62.0/38.0)	444/438 (50.3/49.7)	p = 0.027*
Age (SD)	76.5 (7.2)	72.2 (5.7)	p<0.001**
Living alone (%)	53.0	37.1	p<0.001*
Smoking (%)	29.9	13.6	p<0.001*
BMI (SD)	25.3 (5.2)	27.0 (4.2)	p<0.001**
Albumin g/L (SD)	41.0 (3.4)	45.0 (2.3)	p<0.001**
Zinc deficiency–males (%)	47.4	18.5	p<0.001*
Zinc deficiency-females (%)	37.1	10.4	p<0.001*

*χ² = Chi-square test, ** t =  Student's t-test. Notes.