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. 2022 Dec 1;25(4):150–158. doi: 10.14475/jhpc.2022.25.4.150

Table 1.

Sociodemographic and Clinical Characteristics of Cancer Patients Who Died in 2019 and Those Who Died in 2020 (N=1,456).

Characteristics Total 2019 (n=752) 2020 (n=704) P
n (median) % (IQR) n (median) % (IQR) n (median) % (IQR)
Age (yr) 67 59~75 67 58~74 67 59~75 0.346
≥60 1057 72.6 534 71.0 523 74.3 0.161
<60 399 27.4 218 29.0 181 25.7
Sex
Male 910 62.5 468 62.2 442 62.8 0.828
Female 546 37.5 284 37.8 262 37.2
Insurance
National insurance 1358 93.3 692 92.0 666 94.6 <0.001
Medical aid 59 4.1 26 3.5 33 4.7
Foreigner (no insurance) 39 2.6 34 4.5 5 0.7
Residence
Metropolitan 943 64.8 500 66.5 443 62.9 0.155
Non-metropolitan 513 35.2 252 33.5 261 37.1
Cancer subtypes
Lip, oral cavity, and pharynx 31 2.1 25 3.3 6 0.9 0.016
Gastrointestinal 168 11.5 79 10.5 89 12.6
Hepatobiliary-pancreas 447 30.7 223 29.7 224 31.8
Lung and intrathoracic 259 17.8 140 18.6 119 16.9
Bone and soft tissue 45 3.1 23 3.1 22 3.1
Breast 77 5.3 49 6.5 28 4.0
Gynecological 51 3.5 22 2.9 29 4.1
Genitourinary 68 4.7 35 4.7 33 4.7
Hematological 252 17.3 123 16.4 129 18.3
Other* 58 4.0 33 4.4 25 3.6
Disease status at death
Recurrent or metastatic disease 1170 80.4 620 82.5 550 78.1 0.038
Non-metastatic disease 286 19.7 132 17.5 154 21.9
Medical division
Medical department 1045 71.8 566 75.3 479 68.5 0.006
Surgical department 135 9.2 57 7.6 78 11.1
Emergency medicine 276 19.0 129 17.1 147 20.9
Length of hospital stay (last hospital visit)
Overall 13 4~28 13 4~27.5 13 4~28 0.784
General ward 16 8~31 15 7~31 17 8~31 0.224
ICU 12 3~28 10 2~24 17 4~35 0.011
ER 1 0~1 0 0~1 1 0~1 0.036

*“Other” includes malignant neoplasms of the skin (C43, C44), central nervous system (C69~C72), endocrine glands (C73~C75), and metastatic or unknown origin (C76~C80).

†The Student t-test was used for continuous variables and the chi-square test for categorical variables. The Mann-Whitney U test and the Fisher exact test were performed as non-parametric tests for continuous and categorical variables, respectively.

‡IQR indicates the difference between the 75th and 25th percentiles of the data (the lower quartile-the upper quartile).

IQR: interquartile range, ICU: intensive care unit, ER: emergency room.