Palliative care symptoms, concerns and well-being of older people with frailty and complex care needs upon hospital discharge: a cross-sectional study

Table 1 Demographic and care-related characteristics (N = 37)

Characteristics	Descriptive statistics
Age (years) Mean (SD) Range	83.8 (6.1) 74–98
Gender n(%) Female Male	18 (48.6) 19 (51.4)
Living situation n(%) Home, alone Home, with partner/children/other	13 (35.1) 24 (64.9)
Clinical Frailty Score (CFS) ^a,b Mean (SD)	5.8 (0.8)
Medical diagnosis^b n(%) Cancer Nervous system disease Cardiovascular disease Renal disease Respiratory disease Gastrointestinal disease Psychiatric disorder Recurrent falls Liver disease Bone fracture Other	11 (27.8) 7 (19.4) 6 (16.7) 6 (16.7) 5 (13.9) 4 (11.1) 3 (8.3) 3 (8.3) 2 (5.6) 2 (5.6) 6 (16.7)
Number of medical diagnoses per patient n(%) One Two Three	18 (50.0) 16 (44.4) 2 (5.6)
Highest education completed n(%) No education Primary education Lower secondary education Upper secondary education Higher college education	2 (5.4) 4 (10.8) 12 (32.4) 13 (35.1) 6 (16.2)
Respondent n (%) Patient her/himself Representative	29 (78.4) 8 (21.6)
Location of interview n (%) In hospital At patient’s home Not registered	9 (24.3) 27 (73.0) 1 (2.7)

SD: Standard deviation
Missing data: Medical diagnosis (n = 1), CSF (n = 2)
^a The CFS is scored from 0 to 9, with higher scores representing higher frailty. We recruited patients scoring 5 to 7, corresponding to ‘mildly to severely frail’
^b Reported by the treating physician in the hospital

ISSN: 1472-684X