TABLE III.

Factors associated with average hospital costs per block^a in the last month of life

Factor	British Columbia		Ontario		Nova Scotia
	RR	CL	RR	CL	RR	CL
Each block closer to death	1.92	1.85, 1.99	1.68	1.63, 1.73	2.10	1.84, 2.41
Nursing cost per block
$0 (0 hours)	0.33	0.28, 0.39	0.53	0.49, 0.56	0.87	0.50, 1.51
>$0–$87 (>0 to 1 hours)	Reference		Reference		Reference
>$87–$174 (>1 to 2 hours)	0.89	0.83, 0.95	0.78	0.74, 0.83	0.91	0.68, 1.23
>$174–$348 (>2 to 4 hours)	0.79	0.74, 0.84	0.71	0.67, 0.75	1.10	0.80, 1.52
>$348–$522 (>4 to 6 hours)	0.74	0.68, 0.80	0.60	0.56, 0.63	0.86	0.63, 1.19
>$522–$697 (>6 to 8 hours)	0.69	0.63, 0.76	0.69	0.64, 0.74	0.80	0.51, 1.26
>$697–$870 (>8 to 10 hours)	0.71	0.62, 0.81	0.71	0.65, 0.76	0.59	0.34, 1.02
>$870 (>10 hours)	0.71	0.63, 0.81	0.45	0.42, 0.48	0.62	0.45, 0.84
Age group
<30 Years	0.81	0.58, 1.14	1.86	1.46, 2.36	10.82	6.61, 17.72
30–39 Years	1.33	1.11, 1.59	1.66	1.43, 1.92	1.49	0.72, 3.05
40–49 Years	1.38	1.23, 1.55	1.47	1.36, 1.58	1.42	0.26, 2.18
50–59 Years	1.13	1.04, 1.22	1.24	1.17, 1.31	1.28	0.96, 1.71
60–69 Years	1.12	1.05, 1.20	1.12	1.07, 1.18	0.91	0.70, 1.17
70–79 Years	Reference		Reference		Reference
80–89 Years	0.90	0.84, 0.97	0.82	0.78, 0.87	0.63	0.47, 0.84
≥90 Years	0.80	0.68, 0.94	0.71	0.62, 0.81	0.63	0.40, 1.00
Sex
Women	0.95	0.90, 1.01	0.98	0.94, 1.02	0.83	0.67, 1.03
Men	Reference		Reference		Reference
Comorbidity score
0	Reference		Reference		Reference
≥1	1.09	1.02, 1.17	Reference	0.95, 1.05	1.15	0.90, 1.47
Missing	0.92	0.87, 0.97	0.89	0.85, 0.93	0.89	0.71, 1.11
Community size
<10,000	Reference		Reference		Reference
10,000–99,999	0.97	0.88, 1.06	1.05	0.99, 1.11	1.06	0.82, 1.38
100,000–499,999	0.81	0.73, 0.89	0.80	0.76, 0.85	0.91	0.74, 1.13
500,000–1,499,999		NA	0.64	0.60, 0.68		NA
>1,500,000	1.06	0.97, 1.16	0.80	0.76, 0.84		NA

^aBoldface type indicates statistical significance (<0.05). Also controlled for income quintile and cancer type (data not shown).

RR = relative rate of average hospital cost; CL = confidence limits; NA = not applicable.