Costs and advance directives at the end of life: a case of the ‘Coaching Older Adults and Carers to have their preferences Heard (COACH)’ trial

Table 1 Baseline characteristics by whether participants had advance directive completions

Variable	AD^a completed	AD^a not completed	Entire sample
	n = 76	n = 152	n = 228
	mean (SD)	mean (SD)	mean (SD)
Age (in years)*	85.76 (7.02)	83.31 (6.88)	84.13 (7.01)
Baseline QoL^b (EQ-5D 3 L score)*	0.41 (0.31)	0.49 (0.29)	0.46 (0.30)
Baseline functional status (Barthel Index)	57.46 (21.4)	60.99 (20.70)	59.81 (20.95)
Baseline cognitive function SMMSE^c score)	22.24 (5.54)	23.63 (4.97)	23.17 (5.22)
Baseline depressive symptoms (GDS-15^d score)*	5.84 (2.97)	4.30 (2.97)	4.80 (3.05)
Body mass index (BMI)^e	24.03 (5.79)	24.47 (5.86)	24.32 (5.83)
	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)
Gender (female)	44 (58)	94 (62)	138 (61)
Individuals with a QoL^f gain over 12 months	28 (42)	67 (48)	95 (46)
Individuals dead at 12 months	18 (24)	35 (23)	53 (23)
Place of death
Hospital	10 (56)	21 (60)	31 (58)
Residential Care/Respite	8 (44)	11 (31)	19 (36)
Home/Independent	0 (0)	3 (9)	3 (6)
Living unit	0 (0)	3 (9)	3 (6)
Type of AD^a completed (%)
GPCP^g	35 (46)
EPG^h	21 (28)
MDⁱ	20 (26)
When AD was completed^j
Before admission to TC^k	22 (30)
During admission to TC^k	51 (70)
Trial Arm
Intervention*	53 (70)	63 (41)	116 (51)
Usual care*	23 (30)	89 (59)	112 (49)

^aAD = Advance directive
^bQoL = Quality of life
^cSMMSE = Standardised Mini Mental State Examination (SMMSE)
^d GDS-15 = Geriatric Depression Scale. Due to missing data, n = 78 for AD completers and n = 147 for AD non-completers
^eThere was some missing data on the BMI and therefore n = 79 for AD completers and n = 140 for non-completers
^fQoL = Quality of life. Due to missing data, n = 71 for AD completers and n = 137 for AD non-completers
^gGPCP = Good palliative care plan
^hEPG = Enduring power of guardianship
ⁱMD = Medical documentation
^jSome data missing on when the AD was completed were missing for n = 4 COACH participants
^kTC = Transition care
*Kruskall Wallis test statistically significant at 0.05

ISSN: 1472-6963