Table 1.
Patient Characteristics (N=366)
| Patient Characteristics | Inpatient Referral N=199 (%)1 | Outpatient Referral N=169 (%)1 | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age in years, mean (range) | 59 (23-86) | 61 (25-87) | 0.112 |
| Female sex | 110 (55) | 82 (49) | 0.253 |
| Race | |||
| White | 117 (57) | 111 (62) | 0.494 |
| Black | 48 (23) | 34 (19) | |
| Hispanic | 31 (15) | 22 (12) | |
| Asian | 8 (4) | 11 (6) | |
| Others | 3 (1) | 1 (1) | |
| Married | 129 (65) | 112 (67) | 0.663 |
| Education | |||
| High school or less | 73 (37) | 61 (37) | 0.193 |
| College education | 63 (32) | 61 (37) | |
| Post graduate education | 10 (5) | 14 (8) | |
| Not available | 53 (27) | 31 (19) | |
| Cancer type | |||
| Breast | 21 (11) | 18 (11) | 0.0034 |
| Gastrointestinal | 53 (27) | 37 (22) | |
| Genitourinary | 16 (8) | 17 (10) | |
| Gynecologic | 21 (11) | 19 (11) | |
| Head and neck | 4 (2) | 18 (11) | |
| Hematologic | 29 (15) | 8 (5) | |
| Other | 18 (9) | 16 (10) | |
| Respiratory | 37 (19) | 34 (20) | |
| Months between advanced cancer diagnosis and death, median (interquartile range) | 11.7 (4.7-25.8) | 19.6 (10.3-31.3) | <0.0015 |
| Months between advanced cancer diagnosis and palliative care consultation, median (interquartile range) | 10.6 (3.3-24.3) | 12.0 (4.6-24.5) | 0.405 |
| Months between palliative care consultation and death, median (interquartile range) | 0.7 (0.2-1.6) | 3.7 (1.6-9.6) | <0.0015 |
| Percent of advanced cancer diagnosis with palliative care involvement, median (interquartile range) | 6.3 (2.3-22.6) | 24.2 (7.8-58.3) | <0.0015 |
1
Column percentage unless otherwise specified
2
Student t test
3
Chi square test
4
Fisher's exact test
5
Mann Whitney test