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

Table 4 The comparison of formal and informal care between T0 and T1 in each patient group

	ONC					OCP					MCP
	T0		T1			T0		T1			T0		T1
	n	%	n	%	p-value	n	%	n	%	p-value	n	%	n	%	p-value
Formal care	n = 333		n = 195		0.03	n = 161		n = 84		0.06	n = 350		n = 190		< 0,001
Users	167	50.2	110	56.4		83	51.6	55	65.5		63	18.0	77	40.5
Non-users	166	49.8	85	43.6		78	48.4	29	34.5		287	82.0	113	59.5
Individual home care service
Home nursing	66	19.8	42	21.5	0.08	33	20.5	20	23.8	1.00	14	4.0	21	11.1	0.01
Home help services	24	7.2	9	4.6	0.21	9	5.6	6	7.1	0.73	5	1.4	3	1.6	1.00
Cleaning help	140	42.0	92	47.2	0.29	74	46.0	43	51.2	1.00	49	14.0	44	23.2	0.02
Physiotherapy	37	11.1	23	11.8	0.66	5	3.1	16	19.0	0.01	14	4.0	34	17.9	< 0,001
Meals on wheels	26	7.8	11	5.6	0.11	8	5.0	3	3.6	1.00	0	0.0	1	0.5	1.00
Informal care	n = 331		n = 191		1.00	n = 157		n = 80		0.65	n = 335		n = 185		0.03
Present	188	56.8	103	53.9		135	86.0	63	78.8		286	85.4	140	75.7
Not present	143	43.2	88	46.1		22	14.0	17	21.3		49	14.6	45	24.3
Formal care + informal care	n = 331		n = 191			n = 157		n = 80			n = 335		n = 185
No care	84	25.4	40	20.9	0.10	11	7.0	7	8.8	1.00	38	11.3	30	16.2	0.24
Informal care only	80	24.2	43	22.5	1.00	66	42.0	19	23.8	0.01	237	70.7	79	42.7	< 0,001
Formal care only	59	17.8	48	25.1	0.07	11	7.0	10	12.5	0.79	11	3.3	15	8.1	0.08
Informal care + formal care	108	32.6	60	31.4	1.00	69	43.9	44	55.0	0.06	49	14.6	61	33.0	< 0,001

Proportions between T0 and T1 were compared with the McNemar test. p < 0.05 denotes statistical significance

ISSN: 1472-6963