Table 1.
Patient Demographics and Clinical Characteristics (N = 7,391)
| Characteristic | Total Patients |
Preferences Regarding Site of Death |
Documentation of Preferences |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Known(n = 5,837) |
Unknown(n = 1,554) |
||||||||
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | Unadjusted OR | 95% CI | P | |
| Male sex | 3,762 | 50.9 | 3,002 | 51.5 | 760 | 48.9 | 1.11 | 0.99 to 1.24 | .069 |
| Mean age, years | 72.6 | 72.5 | 72.8 | 1.00 | 0.99 to 1.00 | .447 | |||
| White race | 6,584 | 89.1 | 5,227 | 89.5 | 1,357 | 87.3 | 1.16 | 0.93 to 1.44 | .184 |
| Married | 3,184 | 43.1 | 2,562 | 43.9 | 622 | 40.0 | 1.17 | 1.05 to 1.31 | .006 |
| Primary tumor site | |||||||||
| Breast | 564 | 7.6 | 444 | 7.6 | 120 | 7.7 | — | — | — |
| GI | 1,827 | 24.7 | 1,438 | 24.6 | 389 | 25.0 | 1.00 | 0.79 to 1.26 | .994 |
| Genitourinary | 1,169 | 15.8 | 932 | 16.0 | 237 | 15.3 | 1.06 | 0.83 to 1.36 | .629 |
| Larynx | 48 | 0.7 | 41 | 0.7 | 7 | 0.5 | 1.58 | 0.69 to 3.62 | .276 |
| Leukemia | 206 | 2.8 | 158 | 2.7 | 48 | 3.1 | 0.89 | 0.61 to 1.30 | .547 |
| Lung | 2,066 | 28.0 | 1,671 | 28.6 | 395 | 25.4 | 1.14 | 0.91 to 1.44 | .253 |
| Lymphoma | 232 | 3.1 | 182 | 3.1 | 50 | 3.2 | 0.98 | 0.68 to 1.43 | .931 |
| Melanoma | 105 | 1.4 | 79 | 1.4 | 26 | 1.7 | 0.82 | 0.50 to 1.34 | .428 |
| Multiple myeloma | 107 | 1.5 | 84 | 1.4 | 23 | 1.5 | 0.99 | 0.60 to 1.63 | .960 |
| Neuroendocrine | 9 | 0.1 | 6 | 0.1 | 3 | 0.2 | 0.54 | 0.13 to 2.19 | .389 |
| Oropharynx | 104 | 1.4 | 86 | 1.5 | 18 | 1.2 | 1.29 | 0.75 to 2.23 | .359 |
| Other | 954 | 12.9 | 716 | 12.3 | 238 | 15.3 | 0.81 | 0.63 to 1.04 | .104 |
| Initial site of care | |||||||||
| Home | 4,714 | 63.8 | 4,017 | 68.8 | 697 | 44.9 | — | — | — |
| Hospital | 1,393 | 18.9 | 903 | 15.5 | 490 | 31.5 | 0.32 | 0.28 to 0.37 | < .001 |
| Nursing home | 928 | 12.6 | 613 | 10.5 | 315 | 20.3 | 0.34 | 0.29 to 0.40 | < .001 |
| Hospice unit | 356 | 4.8 | 304 | 5.2 | 52 | 3.4 | 1.01 | 0.75 to 1.38 | .927 |
| Pain | |||||||||
| Any severity | 5,198 | 70.3 | 4,261 | 73.0 | 937 | 60.3 | 1.78 | 1.58 to 2.00 | < .001 |
| Moderate or severe pain | 1,594 | 21.6 | 1,295 | 22.2 | 299 | 19.2 | 1.20 | 1.04 to 1.38 | .012 |
| Average No. of visits per day of home care | 1.07 | 1.13 | 1.05 | 0.85 | 0.78 to 0.94 | .001 | |||
| DNR order | 4,847 | 65.6 | 3,781 | 64.8 | 1,066 | 68.6 | 0.84 | 0.75 to 0.95 | .005 |
| Advance directive | 5,057 | 68.4 | 4,084 | 70.0 | 973 | 62.6 | 1.39 | 1.24 to 1.56 | < .001 |
| Pressure ulcer | 705 | 9.5 | 562 | 9.6 | 143 | 9.2 | 1.05 | 0.87 to 1.27 | .611 |
| Mean Palliative Performance Scale score | 41.0 | 42.1 | 36.9 | 1.03 | 1.03 to 1.04 | < .001 | |||
| Able to provide history | 6,727 | 91.0 | 5,449 | 93.4 | 1,278 | 82.2 | 3.03 | 2.57 to 3.58 | < .001 |
Abbreviations: DNR, do not resuscitate; OR, odds ratio.