Table 1 Patient characteristics and administrative data by transfer to different care levels

Total

2744

1812

66.0

286

10.4

646

23.6

Gender

0.001

 Male

954

607

63.6

85

8.9

262

27.5

 Female

1790

1205

67.3

201

11.2

384

21.5

Number of comorbidities (n = 2712)

< 0.001

 0

900

671

74.5

41

4.6

188

20.9

 1

883

580

65.7

84

9.5

219

24.8

 2

609

358

58.8

85

13.9

166

27.3

 3+

320

182

56.8

70

21.9

68

21.3

Reason for stay (n = 2743)

< 0.001

 Musculoskeletal symptoms

1022

643

62.9

160

15.7

219

21.4

 Observation

667

477

71.5

53

8.0

137

20.5

 Infection

535

362

67.7

29

5.4

144

26.9

 Dehydration

128

85

66.4

10

7.8

33

25.8

 Psychiatric symptoms

93

43

46.2

7

7.6

43

46.2

 Constipation

86

62

72.1

5

5.8

19

22.1

 Social causes

83

48

57.8

17

20.5

18

21.7

 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

82

56

68.3

2

2.4

24

29.3

 Diabetes mellitus

33

28

84.8

0

0.0

5

15.2

 Substance abuse

14

8

57.1

2

14.3

4

28.6

Workplace of referring physician

0.312

 Emergency primary health care clinic

2464

1614

65.5

262

10.6

588

23.9

 General Practice

185

127

68.7

15

8.1

43

23.2

 Hospital

77

60

77.9

7

9.1

10

13.0

 Other

18

11

61.1

2

11.1

5

27.8

Length of stay

< 0.001

 Shorter than 1 day

1110

639

57.6

37

3.3

434

39.1

 1–3 days

1053

796

75.6

106

10.1

151

14.3

 Longer than 3 days

581

377

64.9

143

24.6

61

10.5

Judged appropriateness of care level

< 0.001

 Appropriate

2507

1747

69.7

263

10.5

497

19.8

 Needed other care at community level

82

54

65.9

22

26.8

6

7.3

 Needed hospital admission

155

11

7.1

1

0.6

143

92.3

Mean

Mean

SD

95% CI

Mean

SD

95% CI

Mean

SD

95% CI

Age

69.5

67.0

22.6

65.9–68.0

83.1

11.7

81.7–84.4

70.6

20.9

69.0–72.2

< 0.001

Number of regular medications

5.1

4.7

4.1

4.5–4.9

6.7

3.8

6.3–7.2

5.3

4.2

5.0–5.7

< 0.001