Table 2.

Characteristics of included studies.

Ref.	Design and methods	Population	SES	Palliative care	Place of death	Results
13.	Prospective cohort study: patients and carers followed up from patient’s admission to death Patients from single service Logistic regression	Spain 380 Patients Mean age 66.76 years 60.5% Male 100% Cancer	Level of education: 9.5% No schooling 50.5% Primary 15.3% Secondary 5.3% High/higher 19.5% Unknown	100% Home	64% Home 19% Hospital 16% Hospice 1% Nursing home	Univariate analysis: after receiving SPC, no differences found in place of death regarding patient’s education level
14.	Retrospective cohort study: review of administrative and clinical database Patients from multiple services in multiple regions Logistic regression	United States 61,063 Patients 77.7% ⩾65 years 48% Male 70.2% White 64.2% Cancer	Family income: 1.8% ⩽US$20,000 11.6% >US$20,000–US$30,000 29.3% >US$30,000–US$40,000 24.4% >US$40,000–US$50,000 32.9% >US$50,000	Home: 54.9% routine care 45.1% continuous care	77.4% Home 22.6% Elsewhere	Multivariate analysis: among those who did not receive continuous care, the odds of non-home death increased as median annual household income decreased. Among those receiving continuous care, no significant difference was found in rates of non-home death across income levels.
15.	Prospective cohort study: patients followed up from admission to death or end of study period Patients from multiple services in single region Cox proportional-hazards regression	United States 180 Patients Mean age 67 years 49.4% Male 79.4% White 100% Cancer	Family income (n = 142): 31.7% <US$20,000 39.4% ⩾US$2000 and <US$40,000 28.9% >US$40,000	100% Inpatient	23.7% Home 40.8% Hospice 25% Hospital 10.5% Nursing home	Bivariate analysis: the inpatient-hospice-death group and the censored group were comparable on family income
16.	Cross-sectional survey of home hospice care agencies Patients from multiple services in multiple regions Logistic regression	Japan 528 Patients Mean age 75 years 59.5% Male 100% Cancer	Financial sufficiency: 40.7% yes 59.3% No	100% Home	64.8% Home 35.2% Hospital	Univariate analysis: after receiving SPC, no differences found in place of death regarding patient’s financial situation
17.	Cross-sectional survey of home hospice care agencies Patients from multiple services in multiple regions Logistic regression for multivariate analysis	Japan 428 Patients Mean age 75 years 57.8% Male 100% Cancer	Financial sufficiency: Proportion not reported	100% Home	64.8% Home 35.2% Hospital	Univariate analysis: after receiving SPC, no differences found in place of death regarding patient’s financial situation
18.	Cross-sectional survey of home hospice care agencies Patients from multiple services in multiple regions Logistic regression	Japan 568 Patients Mean age 73 years 59.7% Male 100% Cancer	Financial sufficiency: 47.4% yes 52.6% No	100% Home	54.9% Home 45.1% Hospital	Univariate analysis: after receiving SPC, no differences found in place of death regarding patient’s financial situation
19.	Prospective cohort study: patients, carers and family physicians followed up from patient’s admission to death Patients from single service Logistic regression	Canada 73 Patients Mean age 68 years 48% Male 100% Cancer	Financial resources sufficient (n = 67): 77.6% Yes 22.4% No	100% Home	47% home 53% Hospital + Hospice	Univariate analysis: after receiving SPC, no differences found in place of death regarding patient’s financial situation
20.	Prospective cohort study: primary carers followed up from patient’s admission to death Patients from single service Logistic regression	Canada 110 Patients 55.5% ⩾70 years 46.4% Male 100% Cancer	Carstairs Deprivation score: 24.8% ⩽ 0.5 25.7% 0.51–0.64 24.8% 0.65–1.07 24.8% ⩾ 1.08	100% Home	66.4% Home 33.6% Hospital	Univariate analysis: after receiving SPC, no differences found in place of death regarding patient’s deprivation level
21.	Retrospective cohort study: review of hospice chart Patients from single service Multinomial logistic regression	New Zealand 1268 Patients 72% > 65 years. 48% Male 82% European 82% Cancer	Community Services Card: 42% Yes 28% No 30% Missing data	100% Home+ other	28% Home 46% hospice 8% hospital 16% care home	Multivariate analysis: relative to those people without a CSC, people with a CSC were more likely to die at acute hospital than at home (OR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.096–3.996)

SES: socioeconomic status; SPC: specialist palliative care; CSC: Community Services Card; OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval.