Table 1. Comparison of demographic details for deceased patients and their next-of-kin for the different participant groupsa.
| Hospice (n=109) | All hospital (n=146) | P-value | Hospital+LCP (n=78)b | Hospital−LCP (n=68) | P-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Deceased patient |
Mean±s.d. or number (%) or median (IQR) |
Mean±s.d. or number (%) or median (IQR) |
|
|||
| Age (years) |
68.5±12.9 |
72.3±12.5 |
0.02 |
74.6±10.9 |
69.6±13.7 |
0.02 |
| Number of females |
63 (57.8) |
67 (45.9) |
0.05 |
38 (48.7) |
30 (44.1) |
NS |
| Median length of final admission (days) |
15 (6.5–28.0) |
11.5 (4.75–25.0) |
NS |
12.0 (5.75–23.0) |
10.0 (4.0–27.0) |
NS |
| Primary site of cancer | ||||||
| Lung | 32 (29.4) | 29 (19.9) | NS | 17 (21.8) | 12 (17.6) | NS |
| Colorectal | 12 (11.0) | 14 (9.6) | NS | 8 (10.2) | 6 (8.8) | NS |
| Oesophagus | 10 (9.2) | 6 (4.1) | NS | 5 (6.4) | 1 (1.5) | NS |
| Stomach | 6 (5.5) | 7 (4.8) | NS | 3 (3.8) | 4 (5.9) | NS |
| Pancreas | 5 (4.6) | 19 (13.0) | 0.02 | 11 (14.1) | 8 (11.8) | NS |
| Bladder | 3 (2.8) | 8 (5.5) | NS | 5 (6.4) | 3 (4.4) | NS |
| Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma | 0 (0.0) | 5 (3.4) | 0.06 | 3 (3.8) | 2 (2.9) | NS |
| Leukaemia | 0 (0.0) | 13 (8.9) | 0.001 | 4 (5.1) | 9 (13.2) | NS |
| Prostate | 5 (4.6) | 11 (7.5) | NS | 6 (7.7) | 5 (7.4) | NS |
| Breast | 14 (12.8) | 5 (3.4) | 0.005 | 1 (1.3) | 4 (5.9) | NS |
| Ovary | 5 (4.6) | 3 (2.1) | NS | 3 (3.8) | 0 (0.0) | NS |
| Other | 17 (15.6) | 25 (17.1) | NS | 12 (15.4) | 14 (20.6) | NS |
| HSPCTc involvement |
NA |
NA |
NA |
35 (44.9) |
19 (28.4) |
0.04 |
|
Next-of-kin (participant) | ||||||
| Number of female participants |
70 (64.2) |
93 (63.7) |
NS |
46 (59.0) |
43 (63.2) |
NS |
| Median time since bereavement (days) | 341 (221–486) | 324.5 (194–497) | NS | 276.0 (167–446.8) | 415.5 (266–541.8) | <0.0001 |
a
Comparisons between groups were made using the independent sample t-testing for continuous parametric data, Pearson's χ2 statistic for categorical data (Fisher's exact test if expected frequencies were less than five), and Mann–Whitney U for continuous non-parametric data.
b
‘Hospital+LCP'=patient's care was supported by the LCP before death; ‘hospital−LCP'=patient's care was not supported by the LCP before death.
c
HSPCT=hospital specialist palliative care team; NS=nonsignificant (P>0.05). Bold values indicate the statistically significant results.