Table 1: Characteristics of 11 studies comparing pediatric palliative care programs and usual care identified through the systematic review.

Study	Participants	Study design	Observation period	n	Intervention group	Comparison group	Outcome measures
Postier et al., 201418	Age 1–21 yr Enrolled in home PPCP/hospice program	RChBA*	Before: 1 yr After: 1 yr	425	After PPCP	Before PPCP	Change in no. of hospital admissions, LOS and total billed charges for hospital/ED stay
Fraser et al., 201311	Age ≤ 19 yr Death from cancer	RCS	Referral to death	497	Hospice group (n = 132)	Control group (n = 311)	Total no. of hospital admissions, no. of planned hospital admissions, no. of emergency admissions
Keele et al., 201312	Age < 18 yr Death in hospital from any cause > 5 d after admission	RCS	Last admission before death	24 342	PC group (n = 919)	No PC (n = 23 423)	Age, sex, LOS, major group category diagnostic, medications, procedures in last admission
Arland et al., 201310	Age 1 mo–19 yr Death from brain tumour	RChBA†	Before: 5 yr After: 10 yr	114	After group (n = 92)	Before group (n = 22)	Symptoms, hospital admissions (no., LOS), location of death
Smith et al., 201319	Children (age not defined) Hospital costs after discharge were in top tenth percentile	RCS + RChBA*	RCS: up to 2 yr RChBA: undisclosed	1 001	PPCP group (n = 81)	Control group (n = 920)	Cost, demographics, use of technology
Gans et al., 20125	Age ≤ 20 yr Life-threatening condition Enrolled in PPCP	RChBA*	Before: 12 mo‡ After: 18 mo	123	After PPCP	Before PPCP	LOS, medical expenditures, family’s quality of life and satisfaction
Pascuet et al., 201013	Children (age not defined) Used respite at pediatric hospice	RChBA*	Before: 1 yr After: 1 yr	66	After respite	Before respite	LOS, ED and outpatient visits, overall cost in hospital/hospice admission
Dussel et al., 200914	Children (age not defined) Death from cancer	XS survey + RCS	Last month of life	140	Location of death planned (n = 88)	Location of death not planned (n = 52)	End-of-life planning, end-of-life support from physicians, use of home care, hospital resource utilization, place of death
Knapp et al., 200915	Age 1–21 yr Death from any cause	RCS	Last year of life	1 527	Hospice (n = 85)	No hospice (n = 848)	Hospice use, hospice expenditures, other expenditures
Ward-Smith et al., 200817	Children (no age bracket defined) Enrolled in PPCP	RCS§	6 mo before death	18	PPCP group (n = 9)	Non-PPCP group (n = 9)	Total hospital costs, LOS, differences in types of procedures
Belasco et al., 200016	Children (no age bracket defined) Referred to home PPCP	Case series	1 d	3	Home care	Hospital care	Type of interventions delivered, place of death, comparison of charges of care

Note: ED = emergency department, LOS = length of stay, PC = palliative care, PPCP = pediatric palliative care program, RChBA = retrospective cohort before–after study with no control, RCS = retrospective cohort study, XS = cross-sectional study.
*The same patients were followed before and after the intervention with no controls.
†Different cohorts of patients were followed before and after the intervention (historical cohort comparison).
‡Length of “before” follow-up period unclear.
§Described by the authors as a case–control study but technically it was a cohort comparison.