BMC Health Services Research

Table 1 Patient characteristics of the three patient groups at baseline

From: The utilization of formal and informal home care by older patients with cancer: a Belgian cohort study with two control groups

	ONC			OCP			MCP
	n	%	p-value	n	%	p-value	n	%
Total N° pts	333	100.0		161	100.0		350	100.0
Age
Mean (SD)	78.7 (5.7)			76.9 (5.0)			59.8 (5.4)
Gender			0.07			0.19
Female	204	61.3		112	69.6		263	75.1
Male	129	38.7		49	30.4		87	24.9
Living situation			0.75			< 0.001
Alone	109	32.7		55	34.2		48	13.7
Not alone	224	67.3		106	65.8		302	86.3
Marital status			0.68			< 0.001
Married/living together	209	62.8		98	60.9		285	81.4
Unmarried/widow/divorced	124	37.2		63	39.1		65	18.6
Educational level	n = 328		0.66	n = 157		< 0.001	n = 344
≤ 14 years	94	28.7		50	31.8		37	10.8
15-19 years	150	45.7		72	45.9		161	46.8
≥ 19 years	84	25.6		35	22.3		146	42.4
Tumour type						0.07
Breast				86	53.4		217	62.0
Gastrointestinal				69	42.9		114	32.6
Lung				6	3.7		19	5.4
Stage				n = 137		0.004	n = 327
I				18	13.1		87	26.6
II				69	50.4		121	37.0
III				35	25.5		93	28.4
IV				15	10.9		26	8.0
Treatment^a
Surgery^b				132	89.8	0.77	304	88.9
Chemotherapy^b				63	43.4	< 0,001	210	61.6
Radiotherapy^b				71	49.3	< 0,001	232	68.0
Hormonal^b				59	40.7	0.03	175	51.6

OCP were compared to the two control groups with the chi-square test. p < 0.05 denotes statistical significance
^aMore than one possibility
^bPercentages were calculated on valid cases

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