Table 2. Characteristics of the study couples during 2002–2013 (N = 5,643 couples ¹).

Variables	Frequency	%	Male		Female
			n1	%1	n2	%2
Age
16–44 years	3,763	33.34	1579	41.96	2184	58.04
45–54 years	2,998	26.56	1566	52.23	1432	47.77
55–64 years	2,337	20.71	1201	51.39	1136	48.61
≥ 65 years	2,188	19.39	1297	59.28	891	40.72
Catastrophic illness or injury
Absent	10,303	91.29	5081	49.32	5222	50.68
Present	983	8.71	562	57.17	421	42.83
Comorbidity (CCI)
0	7,955	70.69	3828	48.12	4127	51.88
1	2,904	25.81	1587	54.65	1317	45.35
2	225	2.00	121	53.78	104	46.22
≥ 3	169	1.50	87	51.48	82	48.52

¹11,286 members of the couples were analyzed.