Table 1.
Descriptive Characteristics of End-of-Life Cancer Cohort of Medicare Beneficiaries Dying With Poor-Prognosis Cancer: 2003 to 2007
| Characteristic | Decedent Cancer Cohort |
Lung Cancer Cohort |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Received Chemotherapy in Last 6 Months of Life |
Total | Received Chemotherapy in Last 6 Months of Life |
|||||
| Physician Office Only | Outpatient Department Only | Both Settings | Physician Office Only | Outpatient Department Only | Both Settings | |||
| No. of patients | 235,821 | 55,450 | 15,503 | 4,073 | 74,581 | 18,857 | 4,610 | 1,155 |
| Age at death, years | 78.1 | 76.0 | 74.7 | 74.5 | 76.9 | 74.7 | 73.9 | 73.9 |
| Black race, % | 9.2 | 8.0 | 10.2 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 7.0 | 10.2 | 8.0 |
| Female sex, % | 48.6 | 41.7 | 46.9 | 44.1 | 44.4 | 39.2 | 41.2 | 38.5 |
| Zip code | ||||||||
| Income level, $ | 44,482 | 45,459 | 45,240 | 45,760 | 43,675 | 44,740 | 43,258 | 44,101 |
| Poverty rate, % | 10.5 | 10.0 | 10.5 | 9.9 | 10.6 | 10.0 | 11.1 | 10.4 |
| Type of cancer, % | ||||||||
| Metastatic | 54.7 | 66.2 | 67.1 | 67.1 | 48.0 | 61.2 | 62.1 | 64.7 |
| Lung | 31.6 | 34.0 | 29.7 | 28.4 | — | — | — | — |
| Breast | 5.3 | 7.5 | 8.0 | 7.4 | — | — | — | — |
| Prostate | 5.9 | 12.7 | 6.3 | 10.2 | — | — | — | — |
| Pancreatic | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.5 | 6.7 | — | — | — | — |
| Hematologic | 8.9 | 7.1 | 8.3 | 10.7 | — | — | — | — |
| Colorectal | 8.1 | 9.5 | 9.4 | 10.2 | — | — | — | — |
| Liver | 3.1 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 1.5 | — | — | — | — |
| Unknown primary | 9.6 | 3.1 | 5.8 | 2.7 | — | — | — | — |
| Comorbidities, % | ||||||||
| Chronic pulmonary disease | 42.0 | 40.3 | 36.2 | 35.1 | 68.1 | 67.1 | 63.1 | 64.5 |
| Coronary artery disease | 31.2 | 29.6 | 25.7 | 26.2 | 34.2 | 32.9 | 30.3 | 30.4 |
| Congestive heart failure | 30.3 | 25.9 | 21.9 | 24.5 | 32.1 | 27.2 | 24.5 | 28.1 |
| Peripheral vascular disease | 9.8 | 8.3 | 7.0 | 6.7 | 12.3 | 10.8 | 9.9 | 9.4 |
| Severe chronic liver disease | 2.3 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Diabetes with end organ damage | 4.2 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.8 |
| Chronic renal failure | 12.2 | 10.5 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 9.7 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 5.2 |
| Dementia | 10.6 | 4.6 | 3.8 | 2.9 | 9.5 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.0 |
| Year of death, % | ||||||||
| 2003 | 20.4 | 20.8 | 17.2 | 23.4 | 20.4 | 21.0 | 17.4 | 22.9 |
| 2004 | 20.4 | 21.2 | 18.6 | 24.3 | 20.3 | 20.8 | 19.3 | 26.0 |
| 2005 | 20.4 | 20.8 | 20.2 | 24.1 | 20.5 | 21.0 | 20.0 | 22.6 |
| 2006 | 19.6 | 19.0 | 21.3 | 14.1 | 19.7 | 19.2 | 20.5 | 13.8 |
| 2007 | 19.2 | 18.2 | 22.7 | 14.1 | 19.2 | 18.0 | 22.8 | 14.7 |
| Outcomes, % | ||||||||
| Received chemotherapy in last 6 months of life | 32 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 33 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Received chemotherapy in last 3 months of life | 77 | 77 | 73 | 89 | 79 | 79 | 74 | 87 |
| Received chemotherapy in last 14 days of life | 15 | 16 | 12 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 13 | 21 |
| No. of chemotherapy treatments (among receivers) | ||||||||
| Last 6 months of life | 6.7 | 6.7 | 5.5 | 10.1 | 7.0 | 7.1 | 5.6 | 10.0 |
| Last 3 months of life | 4.1 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 5.5 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 5.7 |
| Last 14 days of life | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.8 |