Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients at the time of acute inpatient admission
| Characteristic | |
|---|---|
| Age (years) | 60.9 ± 11.8 |
| Male sex | 145 (50.9) |
| Adjusted Charlson comorbidity index | |
| 0 | 31 (10.9) |
| 1 | 52 (18.2) |
| 2 | 53 (18.6) |
| ≥ 3 | 149 (52.3) |
| Number of daily drugs in current use | |
| 0 | 30 (10.5) |
| 1 - 5 | 155 (54.4) |
| ≥ 5 | 100 (35.1) |
| Neoplasia, type | |
| Nonhematologic | 234 (82.1) |
| Hematologic | 51 (17.9) |
| Primary topography of nonhematologic tumors | |
| Digestive tract and digestive glands | 62 (26.5) |
| Lungs and respiratory tract | 45 (19.2) |
| Breast | 41 (17.5) |
| Head and neck | 14 (6.0) |
| Gynecologic | 14 (6.0) |
| Others* | 58 (24.8) |
| Type of hematologic tumors | |
| Nonfollicular lymphoma | 19 (37.3) |
| Multiple myeloma or malignant plasma cell neoplasms | 14 (27.5) |
| Lymphoid leukemia | 7 (13.7) |
| Myeloid leukemia | 6 (11.8) |
| Other† | 5 (9.7) |
| Time since diagnosis (months) | 15 [0 - 253] |
| Current antineoplastic treatment | |
| Curative intent | 76 (26.7) |
| Time since last treatment (days) | 13 [0 - 56] |
| > 1 previous treatment lines | 160 (56.1) |
| Inpatient admission cause | |
| Infection | 116 (40.7) |
| Febrile neutropenia | 49 (17.2) |
| Sepsis/septic shock | 35 (12.3) |
| Uncontrolled pain | 31(11.2) |
| Respiratory insufficiency (not infectious) | 17 (6.0) |
| Neurologic dysfunction (not infectious) | 15 (5.3) |
| General status degradation | 15 (5.3) |
| Other causes‡ | 108 (37.9) |
Malignant neoplasms of mesothelial or soft tissue, malignant neoplasms of male genital organs, malignant neoplasms of urinary tract, malignant neoplasms of skin, malignant neoplasms of thyroid or other endocrine glands, malignant neoplasms of bone and articular cartilage, malignant neoplasms of ill-defined, secondary and unspecified sites, malignant neoplasms of independent (primary) multiple sites; † follicular lymphoma, mature T/NK-cell lymphoma, others and unspecified malignant neoplasms of lymphoid, hematopoietic and related tissue; ‡ disturbances, hemorrhage, hepatic failure, kidney failure, electrolytic disturbances, pancytopenia, cardiac failure or other cardiac causes, cord compression syndrome, mucositis, superior vena cava syndrome, anemia. †,
, ‡ - frequency less than 5%. Results expressed as mean ± standard deviation, n (%) or median [range].