Table 1.
Demographic and clinical/caregiving characteristics of the sample (n = 188).
| Patients (n = 78) |
Caregivers (n = 110) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age at enrollment | Years | Mean (sd) | 71.7 (9.7) | 60.7 (13.7) |
| Range | 43–88 | 23–85 | ||
| Sex | Female | n (%) | 37 (47.4) | 73 (66.4) |
| Male | n (%) | 41 (52.6) | 37 (33.6) | |
| Education | Primary school | n (%) | 26 (33.3) | 9 (8.2) |
| Secondary school | n (%) | 22 (28.2) | 25 (22.7) | |
| College | n (%) | 28 (35.9) | 47 (42.7) | |
| Graduation’s degree | n (%) | 0 (0) | 4 (3.6) | |
| Bachelor’s degree | n (%) | 2 (2.6) | 25 (22.7) | |
| Ethnicity | Caucasian | n (%) | 78 (100) | 107 (97.3) |
| African | n (%) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.9) | |
| Arabian | n (%) | 0 (0) | 2 (1.8) | |
| Religion | Catholic | n (%) | 65 (83.3) | 81 (73.6) |
| Muslim | n (%) | 0 (0) | 2 (1.8) | |
| Evangelic | n (%) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.9) | |
| Orthodox | n (%) | 3 (3.9) | 3 (2.7) | |
| Jehovah’s Witness | n (%) | 1 (1.3) | 1 (0.9) | |
| Animist | n (%) | 9 (11.5) | 2 (1.8) | |
| Atheist/Agnostic | n (%) | 0 (0) | 20 (18.2) | |
| Cancer diagnosis | Breast | n (%) | 11 (14.3) | - |
| Colon | n (%) | 7 (9.1) | - | |
| Gastric | n (%) | 12 (15.6) | - | |
| Genitourinary (kidney, testis, prostate, ovary) | n (%) | 20 (26) | - | |
| Head, neck, larynx | n (%) | 2 (2.6) | - | |
| Lung | n (%) | 14 (18.2) | - | |
| Pancreas | n (%) | 5 (6.5) | - | |
| Rectum, sigma | n (%) | 4 (5.2) | - | |
| Sarcoma | n (%) | 1 (1.3) | - | |
| Blood | n (%) | 2 (2.6) | - | |
| Months on early PC at the time of study recruitment | Months | Mean (sd) | 41.1 (10.4) | 57.9 (17.9) |
| Range | 25–65 | 8–137 | ||
| KPS score at first early PC consult | 0–100 | Median (IQR) | 60 (60–70) | - |
| NRS pain score at first early PC consult | 0–10 | Median (IQR) | 7 (6–8) | - |
| Active CT/RT at first early PC consult | n (%) | 70 (89.7) | - | |
| Status of the patient (alive/deceased) at the moment of the caregiver enrollment | Alive | n (%) | - | 82 (74.6) |
| Deceased | n (%) | - | 27 (24.5) | |
| Missing data | n (%) | - | 1 (0.9) | |
| In the case of a deceased patient, months passed since the death | Months | Mean (sd) | 47 (7.6) | |
| Range | 38–70 | |||
| Relationship to patient | Mother/Father | n (%) | 1 (0.9) | |
| Spouse/Partner | n (%) | 54 (49.1) | ||
| Daughter/Son | n (%) | 48 (43.6) | ||
| Sister/Brother | n (%) | 4 (3.6) | ||
| Other family members | n (%) | 3 (2.7) |
Abbreviations: -, no data; CT, chemotherapy; PC, palliative care; IQR, interquartile range; KPS, Karnofsky Performance Status; NRS, Numerical Rating Scale; RT, radiotherapy.