Table 2.
Patient characteristics related to >3 hospital episodes, length of stay >42 days and time in ICU in the last year of life for people aged 18 years or more in NSW in 2007 (n = 45,749)a
| >3 hospital episodes (24 %) | >42 days in hospital (25 %) | Spent time in ICU (12 %) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of deaths | n (% within category) | Adjusted OR (95 % CI) | n (% within category) | Adjusted OR (95 % CI) | n (% within category) | Adjusted OR (95 % CI) | |
| Age at death | p < 0.0001 | p < 0.0001 | p < 0.0001 | ||||
| 18–59 | 5722 | 1660 (29) | 0.92 (0.86–0.99) | 1344 (23) | 0.76 (0.71–0.82) | 1018 (18) | 1.06 (0.97–1.15) |
| 60–79 | 15,723 | 4979 (32) | 1.00 (reference) | 4580 (29) | 1.00 (reference) | 2608 (17) | 1.00 (reference) |
| 80–89 | 16,354 | 3350 (20) | 0.69 (0.65–0.72) | 4051 (25) | 0.92 (0.88–0.97) | 1413 (9) | 0.46 (0.42–0.49) |
| 90+ | 7950 | 878 (11) | 0.39 (0.36–0.42) | 1389 (17) | 0.65 (0.61–0.70) | 235 (3) | 0.14 (0.12–0.17) |
| Sex | p < 0.0001 | p = 0.02 | p < 0.0001 | ||||
| Female | 22,422 | 4645 (21) | 1.00 (reference) | 5313 (24) | 1.00 (reference) | 2189 (10) | 1.00 (reference) |
| Male | 23,117 | 6222 (27) | 1.19 (1.14–1.25) | 6051 (26) | 1.05 (1.01–1.10) | 3085 (13) | 1.14 (1.07–1.21) |
| Unknown | 210 | 0 (0) | Not included | 0 (0) | Not included | 0 (0) | Not included |
| Country of birth | p = 0.01 | p < 0.0001 | p = 0.58 | ||||
| Australia | 33,862 | 8084 (24) | 1.00 (reference) | 8566 (25) | 1.00 (reference) | 3840 (11) | 1.00 (reference) |
| Other | 11,536 | 2783 (24) | 0.93 (0.89–0.99) | 2798 (24) | 0.89 (0.85–0.94) | 1432 (12) | 0.98 (0.91–1.05) |
| Unknown | 351 | 0 (0) | Not included | 0 (0) | Not included | 2 (1) | Not included |
| Place of residenceb | p = 0.04 | p < 0.0001 | p < 0.0001 | ||||
| Major cities | 30,907 | 7527 (24) | 1.00 (reference) | 7843 (25) | 1.00 (reference) | 3797 (12) | 1.00 (reference) |
| Inner regional | 10,990 | 2492 (23) | 0.92 (0.87–0.98) | 2571 (23) | 0.89 (0.84–0.94) | 1090 (10) | 0.75 (0.69–0.82) |
| Outer regional/Remote/Very remote | 3396 | 830 (24) | 0.97 (0.89–1.07) | 921 (27) | 1.06 (0.97–1.16) | 373 (11) | 0.69 (0.61–0.79) |
| Unknown | 462 | 18 (4) | Not included | 29 (6) | Not included | 14 (3) | Not included |
| Socioeconomic statusc | p < 0.0001 | p = 0.01 | p < 0.0001 | ||||
| Most disadvantaged quintile | 9045 | 2234 (25) | 0.90 (0.83–0.97) | 2309 (26) | 0.97 (0.89–1.04) | 1338 (15) | 1.23 (1.11–1.36) |
| Quintile 2 | 10,207 | 2439 (24) | 0.83 (0.77–0.89) | 2485 (24) | 0.89 (0.83–0.96) | 1091 (11) | 0.86 (0.78–0.95) |
| Quintile 3 | 10,169 | 2251 (22) | 0.78 (0.72–0.84) | 2503 (25) | 0.92 (0.86–0.99) | 1065 (10) | 0.82 (0.74–0.90) |
| Quintile 4 | 7878 | 1874 (24) | 0.85 (0.79–0.92) | 1938 (25) | 0.91 (0.85–0.98) | 802 (10) | 0.75 (0.68–0.83) |
| Least disadvantaged quintile | 7943 | 2043 (26) | 1.00 (reference) | 2088 (26) | 1.00 (reference) | 958 (12) | 1.00 (reference) |
| Unknown | 507 | 26 (5) | Not included | 41 (8) | Not included | 20 (4) | Not included |
| Cause of death | p < 0.0001 | p < 0.0001 | p < 0.0001 | ||||
| Circulatory system | 15,500 | 2341 (15) | 1.00 (reference) | 2922 (19) | 1.00 (reference) | 1540 (10) | 1.00 (reference) |
| Cancer | 13,441 | 5465 (41) | 3.18 (3.00–3.37) | 4685 (35) | 2.17 (2.06–2.30) | 1514 (11) | 0.79 (0.73–0.85) |
| Other known cause | 15,226 | 2797 (18) | 1.19 (1.12–1.26) | 3447 (23) | 1.26 (1.19–1.33) | 2032 (13) | 1.21 (1.12–1.30) |
| Cause not known | 1582 | 264 (17) | Not included | 310 (20) | Not included | 188 (12) | Not included |
OR odds ratio adjusted for all other factors in table, CI confidence interval
aThese groups represent the top quartiles of the distributions for hospital episodes (>3) and length of stay in hospital (>42 days) during the last year of life
bBased on Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Accessibility Remoteness Index for Australia
cUsing population-based quintiles of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ index of relative disadvantage