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Table 4 Patient and care characteristics in appropriate and inappropriate carea

From: Appropriate and inappropriate care in the last phase of life: an explorative study among patients and relatives

 

Appropriate care

Inappropriate care

P-value of a differenceb

n = 429 %

n = 309 %

 

Patient characteristics

Patient gender

 Female

49

53

n.s.

Patient age

 Mean (range)

74 (20-102)

74 (10-101)

n.s.

Diagnosisc:

 Cancerde

58

47

0.002

 Other physical diseasesdf

29

37

0.025

 Old age/general decline

21

24

n.s.

 Dementia

13

14

n.s.

 Psychiatric diseased

0.5

3

0.011

 None

1

1

n.s.

Care characteristics

Location of carec:

 Home, primary cared

57

36

<0.001

 Home, specialist outpatient care

17

18

n.s.

 Hospital, inpatient departmentd

25

36

0.001

 Nursing home or residential home

25

28

n.s.

 Hospiced

8

3

0.003

 Other

3

2

n.s.

Responsible for this carec

Physiciansd

74

82

0.013

 -General practitionersd

43

32

0.006

 -Clinical specialistsd

19

37

<0.001

 -Elderly care physicians

5

6

n.s.

 -Otherd

1

4

0.015

Nursing staffd

59

28

<0.001

Patient and/or relativesd

19

8

<0.001

Otherg

8

8

n.s.

  1. aMissing values ranged from 0.0 to 7.1 %
  2. bP-value calculated using Fisher’s exact test for dichotomous values and Chi-square test (two-tailed) for categorical variables (cut-off point p < 0.05)
  3. cOne or more answers could be given
  4. dSignificant difference between appropriate and inappropriate care (p < 0.05). n.s.: not significant
  5. eCancer: In appropriate care: 12 % colorectal cancer, 11 % lung cancer, 10 % prostate cancer, 5 % breast cancer, 3 % haematological malignancy, 22 % other, 2 % unknown. In inappropriate care: 7 % colorectal cancer, 9 % lung cancer, 4 % prostate cancer, 5 % breast cancer, 7 % haematological malignancy, 12 % other, 1 % unknown
  6. f Other physical diseases: In appropriate care: 9 % heart disease, 6 % neurological disease, non-CVA, 5 % COPD, 4 % CVA, 9 % other. In 'inappropriate care: 10 % heart disease, 6 % neurological disease, non-CVA, 4 % COPD, 7 % CVA, 16 % other
  7. gOther: e.g. chaplains, psychologists and physiotherapists, hospital administration or Health Insurance Company