Baseline characteristics for all patients (derivation and validation cohort) stratified by complexity, as number and percentage or median and IQR for categorical and continuous variables, respectively
| Overall (N=1889) | Non-complex (N=1326) | Complex (N=563) | |
| n (%) or median (IQR) | |||
| Age | |||
| ≥80 years | 579 (31) | 442 (33) | 137 (24) |
| 70–79 years | 437 (23) | 304 (23) | 133 (24) |
| 60–69 years | 322 (17) | 211 (16) | 111 (20) |
| <60 years | 537 (28) | 363 (27) | 174 (31) |
| Missing | 14 (0.7) | 6 (0.5) | 8 (1.4) |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 1002 (53) | 693 (52) | 309 (55) |
| Female | 873 (46) | 627 (47) | 246 (44) |
| Missing | 14 (0.7) | 6 (0.5) | 8 (1) |
| Living area* | |||
| Urban | 611 (32) | 453 (34) | 158 (28) |
| Rural | 1238 (65) | 848 (64) | 390 (69) |
| Missing | 40 (2) | 25 (1) | 15 (3) |
| Marital status | |||
| Single | 331 (17) | 252 (19) | 79 (14) |
| Couple | 636 (34) | 429 (32) | 207 (37) |
| Widowed | 916 (48) | 641 (48) | 275 (49) |
| Missing | 6 (0.3) | 4 (0.3) | 2 (0.4) |
| Hospitalisation within last 12 months | 673 (36) | 452 (34) | 221 (39) |
| Medication† | |||
| Antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents, at admission | 70 (4) | 38 (3) | 32 (6) |
| Nervous system, at admission | 1340 (71) | 918 (69) | 422 (75) |
| Systemic hormonal preparations, excluding sex hormones and insulins, at discharge | 524 (28) | 318 (24) | 206 (37) |
| High costs during hospitalisation‡ | |||
| For imaging procedures | 485 (26) | 255 (19) | 230 (41) |
| For laboratory analysis | 482 (25) | 203 (15) | 279 (50) |
| High nurse workload§ | 475 (25) | 203 (15) | 272 (48) |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index | 2(0; 4) | 2(0; 3) | 3(1 5) |
| Principal or concomitant diagnosis at discharge | |||
| Cancer¶ | 225 (12) | 136 (10) | 89 (16) |
| COPD** | 186 (10) | 124 (9) | 62 (11) |
| Dementia†† | 163 (9) | 125 (9) | 38 (7) |
| Depression‡‡ | 209 (11) | 140 (11) | 69 (12) |
| Heart failure§§ | 327 (17) | 206 (15) | 121 (21) |
| Pneumonia†††† | 244 (13) | 159 (12) | 85 (15) |
| Sepsis¶¶ | 229 (12) | 132 (10) | 97 (17) |
| Stroke*** | 90 (5) | 65 (5) | 25 (4) |
| Substance abuse††† | 212 (11) | 129 (10) | 83 (15) |
| Syncope‡‡‡ | 81 (4) | 67 (5) | 14 (2) |
| Malnutrition§§§ | 265 (14) | 122 (9) | 143 (25) |
| Multimorbidity | |||
| Low (no of diagnoses ≤6) | 510 (27) | 435 (33) | 75 (13) |
| Middle (no of diagnoses >6 and <14)‡‡‡‡ | 841 (44) | 603 (45) | 238 (42) |
| High (no of diagnoses ≥14) | 524 (28) | 282 (21) | 242 (43) |
| PCCL | 3(2 4) | 3(1 4) | 4(3 4) |
| No complication or comorbidity | 380 (20) | 312 (23) | 68 (12) |
| Light complication or comorbidity | 29 (1) | 21 (2) | 8 (1) |
| Moderate complication or comorbidity | 292 (15) | 233 (18) | 59 (10) |
| Severe complication or comorbidity | 533 (28) | 409 (31) | 124 (22) |
| Very severe complication or comorbidity | 641 (34) | 345 (26) | 296 (53) |
| Missing | 14 (0.7) | 6 (0.5) | 8 (1.4) |
| Abnormal creatinine level (creatinine ≥100 µmol/L) | |||
| At admission and discharge | 368 (19) | 241 (18) | 127 (23) |
| At admission only | 182 (10) | 106 (8) | 76 (13) |
| At discharge only | 63 (3) | 34 (3) | 29 (5) |
| Missing | 364 (19) | 311 (23) | 53 (9) |
| Leucocytosis (leucocyte count ≥20 G/L) | |||
| At admission and discharge | 77 (41) | 47 (3) | 30 (5) |
| At admission only | 19 (1) | 8 (<1) | 11 (2) |
| At discharge only | 13 (<1) | 5 (<1) | 8 (1) |
| Missing | 351 (19) | 306 (23) | 45 (8) |
| Patient destination | |||
| Death | 134 (7) | 91 (7) | 43 (8) |
| Home | 1178 (62) | 873 (66) | 305 (54) |
| Hospital | 191 (10) | 119 (9) | 72 (13) |
| Nursing home | 155 (8) | 108 (8) | 47 (8) |
| Rehabilitation | 171 (9) | 101 (8) | 70 (12) |
| Others and missing | 60 (3) | 24 (3) | 26 (5) |
*Defined according to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office based on place of residence.
†Group of drugs according to ATC classification.
‡Defined as costs of all imaging procedures or laboratory analysis (without microbiology) during hospital stay above 75th percentile.
§Defined as sum of hours of all nursing work (including sitting guard) during hospital stay above 75th percentile.
¶ICD10-codes B21, C00 through C97, Z03.1.
**ICD10-codes J44.
††ICD10-codes F00 through F03, F05.0, F05.1.
‡‡ICD10-codes F20.4, F25.1, F31.3 F31.4, F31.5, F32, F33, F41.2, F92.0.
§§ICD10-codes I50.
¶¶ICD10-codes A02.1, A20.7, A22.7, A26.7, A32.7, A39.2, A39.3, A39.4, A40, A41, A42.7, B37.7.
***ICD10-codes I63.
†††ICD10-codes F10 through F19.
‡‡‡ICD10-codes R55.
§§§ICD10-codes E40 through E46.
¶¶¶Defined as creatinine ≥100 µmol/L.
****Defined as leucocyte count ≥20 G/L.
††††ICD10-codes A48.1, B01.2, B05.2, J10.0, J11.0, J12 through J18, J68.0, J69, J85.1, O74.0, U69.00.
‡‡‡‡Between 25th and 75th percentile.
ATC, Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system; ICD-10, 10th Revision of International Classification of Disease; PCCL, patient clinical complexity level.