TABLE 1.

Patient characteristics

	Ward		P
	New design (n=910)	Historic design (n=604)
Age at admission, years, mean ± SD	60.6±18.4	63.2±18.8	0.008
Male	503 (55.3)	326 (54.0)	0.62
Admitted from care facility*	54 (5.9)	25 (4.1)	0.12
Direct admission†	23 (2.5)	9 (1.5)	0.17
Previous hospitalization within six months	396 (43.5)	276 (45.7)	0.40
Comorbidities
Myocardial infarction	27 (3.0)	27 (4.5)	0.12
Congestive heart failure	104 (11.4)	122 (20.2)	<0.0001
Peripheral vascular disease	14 (1.5)	8 (1.3)	0.73
Cerebrovascular disease	19 (2.1)	21 (3.5)	0.10
Dementia	39 (4.3)	30 (5.0)	0.53
Chronic pulmonary disease	103 (11.3)	72 (11.9)	0.72
Rheumatic disease	24 (2.6)	14 (2.3)	0.70
Peptic ulcer disease	41 (4.5)	25 (4.1)	0.73
Mild liver disease	130 (14.3)	69 (11.4)	0.11
Diabetes without chronic complications	147 (16.2)	70 (11.6)	0.01
Diabetes with chronic complications	118 (13.0)	110 (18.2)	0.005
Hemiplegia or paraplegia	4 (0.4)	12 (2.0)	0.004
Renal disease	60 (6.6)	57 (9.4)	0.04
Any malignancy	100 (11.0)	79 (13.1)	0.22
Moderate/severe liver disease	71 (7.8)	50 (8.3)	0.74
Metastatic solid tumour	49 (5.4)	52 (8.6)	0.01
AIDS/HIV	10 (1.1)	2 (0.3)	0.10
Charlson score
Median	1	2	0.06‡
Mean (±SD)	1.95±2.2	2.40±2.5	0.0003
0	285 (31.3)	157 (26.0)	0.06
1	227 (25.0)	132 (21.9)
2	124 (13.6)	93 (15.4)
3	87 (9.6)	72 (11.9)
4	78 (8.6)	47 (7.8)
5	32 (3.5)	24 (4.0)
≥6	77 (8.5)	79 (13.1)

Data presented as n (%) unless otherwise indicated.

^*Care facilities include rehabilitation or long-term care;

^†Direct admission without emergency room;

^‡P value calculated using F-test