Characteristics and underlying comorbidities of the studied groups
| (A) Younger adults (n=348) | (B) Elderly (n=438) | (C) Very old (n=201) | Significant post hoc comparisons | p Value | |
| Male gender (%) | 218 (62.6%) | 279 (63.7%) | 114 (56.7%) | NS | 0.226 |
| Comorbidities | |||||
| Diabetes mellitus | 26 (7.5%) | 110 (25.1%) | 45 (22.4%) | B vs A C vs A | <0.001 |
| Cerebrovascular event | 16 (4.6%) | 64 (14.6%) | 41 (20.4%) | C vs A C vs B B vs A | <0.001 |
| Dementia | 0 (0%) | 28 (6.4%) | 25 (12.4%) | C vs A C vs B B vs A | <0.001 |
| Chronic obstructive lung disease | 17 (4.9%) | 87 (19.9%) | 36 (17.9%) | C vs A B vs A | <0.001 |
| Heart failure | 29 (8.3%) | 62 (14.2%) | 38 (18.9%) | C vs A B vs A | 0.001 |
| Old myocardial infarction | 12 (3.4%) | 14 (4.8%) | 11 (3.2%) | NS | 0.542 |
| Chronic renal insufficiency | 10 (2.9%) | 32 (7.3%) | 12 (6.0%) | B vs A C vs A | 0.024 |
| End-stage renal disease | 17 (4.9%) | 21 (4.8%) | 4 (2.0%) | NS | 0.203 |
| Liver cirrhosis | 7 (2.0%) | 11 (2.7%) | 4 (2.0%) | NS | 0.792 |
| Non-haematogenous malignancies | 49 (14.1%) | 73 (16.7%) | 29 (14.4%) | NS | 0.563 |
| Haematogenous malignancies | 15 (4.3%) | 12 (2.7%) | 5 (2.5%) | NS | 0.371 |
| Charlson score, median (IQR) | 1 (0–3) | 2 (1–3) | 2 (1–4) | C vs A B vs A | <0.001 |