Comparison of patient baseline characteristics of both study samples (2009 and 2015) and characteristics of the total Irish inpatient population
| 2009 sample | 2015 sample | P value | Total inpatient population 2009 (Source: National Pricing Office) | Total inpatient population 2015 (Source: National Pricing Office) | |
| Number of admission/charts reviewed, n | 1574 | 1603 | NA | 339 844 | 390 710 |
| Median age in years (IQR) | 55 (37–72) | 60 (42–73) | <0.001 | 57 | 60 |
| Percentage of female patients (95% CI) | 55.4 (50.9 to 55.8) | 52 (49.6 to 54.5) | 0.45 | 53.5 | 53.7 |
| Mean length of stay in days (95% CI) | 7.4% (6.8% to 8%) | 6.9% (6.2% to 7.5%) | 0.25 | 7% | 6.1% |
| Percentage of patients who died during admission (95% CI) | 4.8 (3.8 to 5.9) | 2.4 (1.6 to 3.1) | <0.001 | 2.7 | 2.4 |
| Percentage of patients who underwent surgery (95% CI) | 49.9 (47.4 to 52.3) | 50.4 (48 to 52.9) | 0.76 | 23.8 | 19 |
| Percentage of patients who were admitted electively (95% CI) | 30.6 (28.3 to 32.8) | 28.8 (26.6 to 31) | 0.27 | 21.7 | 16.5 |
| Percentage of patients in possession of a medical card (95% CI) | 51.27 (48.8 to 53.7) | 58.1 (55.5 to 60.7) | <0.001 | 56.3 | 60 |
| Average Charlson Index (95% CI) | 1.8 (1.7 to 1.9) | 1.9 (1.8 to 1.9) | 0.5 | NA | NA |