Table 1.

Baseline (pre implant) characteristics of MCS recipients by age

Pre-Implant Characteristics	Total n= 1470	Age < 60 years n=457	Age=60-69 years n=520	Age≥ 70 years n=493	p-value
Demographic and behavioral characteristics
Age at implant (mean years)	63.4±11.8	49.0±9.4	65.7±2.9	74.1±3.0	< .0001
Male (%)	82	75	83	88	< .0001
Race (% white)	75	55	83	86	< .0001
Married at time of implant (%)	73	53	79	85	< .0001
> high school education (%)	50	42	50	58	< .0001
Currently smoking (%)	11	22	10	4	< .0001
Current alcohol abuse (%)	15	25	13	8	< .0001
Current drug abuse (%)	2	7	1	0	< .0001
Clinical characteristics
Primary cardiac diagnosis (%)
Ischemic cardiomyopathy	58	40	67	38	< .0001
Dilated cardiomyopathy	38	56	29	32	< .0001
Other	4	4	4	4	.76
Co-morbidities (%)
Diabetes	44	38	51	43	.0004
CVA	8	7	10	7	.16
Right heart failure (RVEF severe)	19	23	17	18	.27
Pre COPD	18	18	17	19	.82
Cancer	13	12	15	12	.22
NYHA class IV (%)	76	75	79	75	.21
Intra aortic balloon pump (%)	26	27	26	25	.79
Ventilator (%)	5	7	4	3	.01
ECMO (%)	1	3	1	0	.003
Dialysis (%)	2	2	1	1	.20
INTERMACS profile at implant (%)
1	11	15	11	7	.0001
2	36	37	36	35	.76
3	32	32	32	32	.95
4	15	10	17	19	.0003
5	3	2	3	4	.26
6	2	2	1	2	.44
7	1	1	1	1	.49
Inotrope therapy (%)	78	82	78	75	.03
Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (%)	85	82	87	87	.02
Temporary circulatory support (%)	15	18	16	13	.07

MCS = mechanical circulatory support, CVA = cerebrovascular accident, COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ECMO = extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

*Those patients who were ‘too sick’ have been included and assigned VAS=0 and physical dimensions as ‘extreme problems’