Outcome
The primary outcome that was evaluated was short-term mortality. In this study, the term short-term mortality refers to in-hospital mortality. Comorbidities’ mortality burden was quantified in this study using the Charlson comorbidity index. The Charlson comorbidity index is a widely used tool for predicting mortality by identifying or weighing comorbidities. Health researchers widely use it to quantify disease burden and case mix.8 The index’s performance was evaluated using the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). The following ICD-10 codes were used to define the various comorbidities in this study: diabetes (E10, E11), cardiovascular disease (I25), hypertension (I10-I15), asthma (J45), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (J44), acute kidney injury (AKI; N17), chronic kidney disease (N18), and dementia diagnoses (F00-04, F05.1, G30, G31, A81.0).