Table 3.

Relationship between pre-existing conditions and course of illness.

	Course of disease (outpatient vs. hospitalised)	Lethal course of disease
General pre-existing conditions
Hypertension	p = 0.002	n.s.
Diabetes type 2	p = 0.049	n.s.
Hypothyroidism	n.s.	n.s.
Hyperlipidaemia	p = 0.027	n.s.
Coronary heart disease, cardiomyopathy	n.s.	n.s.
Pulmonary disease	n.s.	n.s.
Depression	n.s.	n.s.
Pre-existing neurological conditions
Dementia	n.s.	p < 0.001
Stroke	n.s.	p = 0.008
Polyneuropathy	n.s.	n.s.
Parkinson's disease	n.s.	n.s.
Other pre-existing neurological conditions	n.s.	n.s.