A cluster randomized controlled trial of a clinical pathway for hospital treatment of heart failure: study design and population

Table 2 Characteristics of 429 Hospital Patients in the Clinical Pathway and Usual Care Study Groups (demographics, risk factors and disease severity at admission).

Variable	Clinical pathway (n = 214)	Usual Care (n = 215)	p value
Male gender	102	110	0.50
Mean age in years (SD)	81.7 (8.3)	79.6 (8.5)	0.011
Admitted from
General practitioner	106	109	0.77
Home	108	106
Severity at admission
NYHA II	16	15
NYHA III	117	114	0.87
NYHA IV	81	86
Co morbidities
Hypertension	154	161	0.58
COPD	52	58	0.58
Diabetes	41	38	0.71
Smoking	34	31	0.68

ISSN: 1472-6963