The noncancer patients were older (mean 84.3 years,
SD = 9.7) than the cancer patients (mean 75.3 years,
SD = 12.4) (p < 0.001). The mean average length of stay in
the hospital was 14.6 days (SD = 12.5) for cancer patients
and 9.3 days (SD = 9.5) for noncancer patients
(p < 0.001). A higher proportion of the cancer patients
lived in a private home or were transferred from another
hospital. Demographic variables of the total sample and for
the cancer and the noncancer patients are shown in
Table 1