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 2 Type of advance care directive by participant characteristics

Variable	GPCP^a	EPG^b	MD^c
Variable	n = 35	n = 21	n = 20
	Median; mean (SD)	Median; mean (SD)	Median; mean (SD))
Age in years	86.0; 85.0 (7.5)	87.0; 84.8 (7.2)	87.5; 88.0 (5.6)
Baseline QoL^d (EQ-5D score)	0.33; 0.38 (0.33)	0.45; 0.46 (0.26)	0.38; 0.41 (0.33)
Baseline functional status (Barthel Index)	57.0; 55.5 (23.3)	61.0; 59.8 (19.2)	60.5; 58.4 (20.9)
Baseline cognitive function (SMMSE^e score)*	25.0; 23.3 (5.7)	19.5; 19.2 (5.8)	23.5; 23.4 (4.3)
Baseline depressive symptoms (GDS-15^f score)	6.0; 5.8 (2.7)	5.0; 5.6 (2.9)	4.5; 6.0 (3.6)
Body mass index (BMI)^g	22.2; 23.6 (6.5)	24.0; 24.9 (5.3)	22.9; 23.9 (5.0)
Gender [n,(%) male]	15 (43)	12 (57)	5 (25)
n (%) who had a QoL^h gain over 12 months	13 (41)	7 (41)	8 (44)
n (%) who had died at the end of 12 months	10 (29)	6 (29)	2 (10)
Place of death [n (%) in each column]
Hospital	6 (60)	3 (50)	1 (50)
Residential Care/Respite	4 (40)	3 (50)	1 (50)
Home/Independent living unit	0	0	0
When AD was completedⁱ
Before admission to TC^j	0	17 (81)	5 (25)
During admission to TC^j	35 (100)	2 (10)	15 (70)
Trial Arm
Intervention*	30 (86)	14 (67)	9 (45)
Usual care*	5 (14)	7 (33)	11 (55)

^aGPCP = Good palliative care plan
^bEPG = Enduring power of guardianship
^cMD = Medical documentation
^dQoL = Quality of life
^eSMMSE = Standardised Mini Mental State Examination
^fGDS-15 = Geriatric Depression Scale. Due to missing data, n = 34 for GPCP, 20 for EPG and 18 for MD
^gThere was some missing data on the BMI: n = 34 for GPCP, = 21 for EPG & 20 for MD
^hQoL = Quality of life. Because of missing data, n = 32 for GPCP, 17 for EPG and 18 for MD
ⁱSome data on when the AD was completed were missing: n = 19 for EPG and n = 20 for MD
^j TC = Transition care
*Kruskall Wallis test statistically significant at 0.05

ISSN: 1472-6963