Table 1.

Hospice Admission Diagnoses (N = 213)

Diagnosis Category	Patients, No. (%)	ICD-9 Description	ICD-9 Code(s)
Cancer	74 (34.7)	Malignant neoplasm	140–209
		Uncertain or unspecified neoplasms	235–239
Neurodegenerative	45 (21.1)	Mental disorders	290–319
		Parkinson’s and other cerebral degenerations	330–332
		Slow virus and prion disease of central nervous system	046
Cardiac	34 (16.0)	Heart disease	410–429
Vascular	14 (6.6)	Stroke	430–438
		Aneurysm or aortic dissection	441–442
Respiratory	11 (5.2)	Pulmonary diseases	490–519
		Respiratory abnormality not elsewhere classified	786.9
Other organ failure	15 (7.0)	Gastrointestinal and liver disease	530–539, 555–579
		Renal disease	580–589
Frailty/debility	20 (9.4)	Adult failure to thrive	783.7
		Debility not otherwise specified	799.3

ICD-9 = International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision.

Note: As described in the Methods, the primary classification scheme was based on ICD-9 diagnosis codes. Ten decedents who did not fit this scheme were classified by review of preceding hospital discharge records: 2 cancer, 1 neurodegenerative, 3 cardiac, 2 other organ failure, and 2 frailty/debility.