The computer packages SPSS for Windows (version
18.0, SPSS Inc. Chicago, Illinois, USA) and Intercooled Stata
(version 10.0, StataCorp, College Station, Texas, USA) were
used for statistical analyses. Data are presented as
proportions, mean SD or, in the case of variables which
did not conform to a normal distribution, median and interquartile
range [IQR]. The bias-corrected 95% confidence
intervals (CI) for the mean cost of home visits were obtained
using the bootstrap method. Two-sample comparisons were
by Fisher’s exact test for proportions, Student’s t-test for
normally distributed variables, and Mann–Witney U-test for
other variables.