Table 3.
Quality of End-of-life Care by Setting of Palliative Care Referral
| Patient Characteristics | Inpatient Referral N=199 (%)1 | Outpatient Referral N=169 (%)1 | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Within the last 30 days of life | |||
| Any emergency room visit | 135 (68) | 80 (48) | <0.0012 |
| 2 or more emergency room visits | 51 (26) | 18 (11) | <0.0012 |
| Any hospital admission | 171 (86) | 87 (52) | <0.0012 |
| 2 or more hospital admissions | 47 (24) | 17 (10) | 0.0012 |
| More than 14 days of hospitalization | 40 (20) | 14 (8) | 0.0022 |
| Hospital death | 67 (34) | 30 (18) | 0.0012 |
| Any ICU admission | 28 (14) | 7 (4) | 0.0013 |
| ICU death | 10 (5) | 3 (2) | 0.153 |
| Chemotherapy use | 34 (17) | 25 (15) | 0.672 |
| Targeted therapy use | 29 (15) | 20 (12) | 0.542 |
| Chemotherapy and targeted agent use | 55 (28) | 41 (25) | 0.552 |
| Median length of hospitalization in last 30 days of life | 9 (5-14) | 8 (3-11) | 0.014 |
| Within the last 14 days of life | |||
| Chemotherapy use | 14 (7) | 8 (5) | 0.382 |
| Targeted therapy use | 9 (5) | 7 (4) | >0.992 |
| Chemotherapy and targeted agent use | 20 (10) | 13 (8) | 0.472 |
| Composite aggressive EOL care score | |||
| 0 | 83 (42) | 106 (63) | <0.0013 |
| 1 | 38 (19) | 33 (20) | |
| 2 | 31 (16) | 12 (7) | |
| 3 | 26 (13) | 11 (7) | |
| 4 | 16 (8) | 4 (2) | |
| 5 | 5 (3) | 1 (1) | |
| Median score (IQR) | 1 (0-2) | 0 (0-1) | <0.0014 |
1
Column percentage unless otherwise specified
2
Chi square test
3
Fisher's exact test
4
Mann Whitney test