Acute hospital-based services used by adults during the last year of life in New South Wales, Australia: a population-based retrospective cohort study

Table 1 Characteristics of decedents aged 18 years or more in NSW in 2007 (n = 45,749)

	No. of deaths	% of deaths
Age at death
18–59	5722	13
60–79	15,723	34
80–89	16,354	36
90+	7950	17
Sex
Female	22,422	49
Male	23,117	51
Unknown	210	0.5
Country of birth
Australia	33,862	74
Other	11,536	25
Unknown	351	1
Marital status
Never married	4120	9
Married (including de facto)	18,262	40
Widowed	14,281	31
Separated/Divorced	2949	6
Unknown	6137	13
Interpreter required
No	36,522	80
Yes	1651	4
Unknown	7576	17
Place of residence^a
Major cities	30,901	68
Inner regional	10,990	24
Outer regional	3175	7
Remote / Very remote	221	0.5
Unknown	462	1
Socioeconomic status^b
Most disadvantaged quintile	9045	20
Quintile 2	10,207	22
Quintile 3	10,169	22
Quintile 4	7878	17
Least disadvantaged quintile	7943	17
Unknown	507	1
Cause of death
Diseases of the circulatory system	15,500	34
Cancer	13,441	29
Other causes	15,226	33
Cause of death not available	1582	3

^aBased on Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Accessibility Remoteness Index for Australia
^bUsing population-based quintiles of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ index of relative disadvantage

ISSN: 1472-6963