Characteristic | Admissions=1503 Mean/median / n (% of admissions) | Missing values n (% of admissions) |
Demographic | ||
Age (years) | Median: 75 IQR: 58–85 | 0 |
Gender (female) | 693 (46.1%) | 0 |
Socioeconomic status, ranked using English Indices of Deprivation 2015 – Index of Multiple Deprivation75 * | Median: 50† IQR: 30–79 | 6 (0.4%) |
Ethnic origin (white) | 1208 (85.9%)† | 96 (6.4%) |
Patient related | ||
Previous allergy | 582 (38.8%)† | 1 (0.07%) |
Body mass index (kg/m2; healthy weight range 18.5–24.9) | Median: 24.9† IQR: 21.4–29.1 | 341 (22.7%) |
Number of hospital admissions in previous 6 months | Median: 0 IQR: 0–1 | 0 |
Primary diagnosis: | ||
Endocrine and metabolic | 82 (5.5%) | 0 |
Nervous system and mental disorders | 149 (9.9%) | 0 |
Cardiovascular system | 315 (21.0%) | 0 |
Respiratory system | 332 (22.1%) | 0 |
Gastrointestinal system | 144 (9.6%) | 0 |
Genitourinary system | 144 (9.6%) | 0 |
Musculoskeletal-integumentary systems | 93 (6.2%) | 0 |
All other categories | 244 (16.2%) | 0 |
Number of comorbidities | Median: 4 IQR: 2–5 | 0 |
History of dementia | 161 (10.7%) | 0 |
Length of hospital stay (days) | Median: 5 IQR: 2–12 | 0 |
Medicines related | ||
Medicines reconciliation completed | 1292 (86.0%) | 0 |
Number of medicines‡ | Median: 8 IQR: 5–10 | 0 |
Parenteral medicines administration | 1008 (67.1%) | 0 |
Use of high-risk medicines: | ||
Systemic antimicrobials (excluding aminoglycosides and glycopeptides) | 937 (62.3%) | 0 |
Antidepressants | 351 (23.4%) | 0 |
Anticoagulants | 312 (20.8%) | 0 |
Antidiabetic medication | 299 (19.9%) | 0 |
Epilepsy medicines | 227 (15.1%) | 0 |
Therapeutic heparin | 222 (14.8%) | 0 |
Antiarrhythmics | 150 (10.0%) | 0 |
Opioids | 145 (9.6%) | 0 |
Aminoglycosides and glycopeptides | 105 (7.0%) | 0 |
Antipsychotics (excluding clozapine) | 92 (6.1%) | 0 |
Other high-risk medicines (clozapine, antiretrovirals, medicines for Parkinson’s disease) | 40 (2.7%) | 0 |
Theophylline and aminophylline | 38 (2.5%) | 0 |
Immunosuppressants | 21 (1.4%) | 0 |
Cytotoxics | 14 (0.9%) | 0 |
Lithium | 6 (0.4%) | 0 |
Laboratory results | ||
Renal function—estimated glomerular filtration rate (mL/min/1.73 m2; normal >90)§ | Median: 73† IQR: 53–99 | 9 (0.6%) |
Liver disease¶ | 164 (10.9%) | 0 |
Serum albumin (g/L; reference range 35–50) | Mean: 33.0† SD: 6.0 | 26 (1.7%) |
Serum potassium (mmol/L; reference range 3.5–5.3) | Mean: 4.4† SD: 0.62 | 30 (2.0%) |
Serum sodium (mmol/L; reference range 133–156) | Mean: 137.2† SD: 5.2 | 3 (0.2%) |
White cell count (109/L; reference range 3.2–11.0) | Median: 9.8† IQR: 7.5–12.8 | 6 (0.4%) |
Platelet count (109/L; reference range 120–450) | Median: 244† IQR: 192–312 | 8 (0.5%) |
*Deprivation rank based on patients’ postcode, shown as the ranked position as a percentage of all neighbourhoods in England (where one is the most deprived).
†Results for patients without missing data.
‡Number of ‘regular’ medicines prescribed on the first full day of admission to hospital (ie, excluding ‘when required’ and ‘once only’ medicines, dietary products, non-medicated topical products, wound dressings).
§Glomerular filtration rate estimated using modified Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation.36
¶Liver disease defined as alanine aminotransferase/alkaline phosphatase and/or bilirubin ≥3 times normal range and/or documented liver disease.