Table 5.
Association between Time-Related Patient Characteristic categories and Study Characteristics (N=378)
| Study Characteristics N (%) |
Number of Studies categorized by
Time-related Patient Characteristic N (%) |
P-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
<1 month
47 (13%) |
≥1-6 months
201 (53%) |
>6 months
130 (34%) |
||
| Year | ||||
| 2004 | 17 (36) | 79 (39) | 54 (42) | 0.80 |
| 2009 | 30 (64) | 122 (61) | 76 (58) | |
| Research method | ||||
| Case series | 38 (81) | 112 (56) | 75 (58) | 0.005 |
| Cohort / Randomized controlled trials | 4 (9) | 38 (19) | 34 (26) | |
| Cross section studies | 4 (9) | 28 (14) | 16 (12) | |
| Other | 1 (2) | 23 (11) | 5 (4) | |
| Study type | ||||
| Retrospective | 30 (64) | 90 (45) | 72 (55) | 0.03 |
| Prospective | 17 (36) | 111 (55) | 58 (45) | |
| Study topic | ||||
| Physical | 27 (57) | 132 (66) | 91 (70) | 0.12 |
| Psychosocial | 9 (19) | 24 (12) | 10 (8) | |
| Health services | 6 (13) | 24 (12) | 12 (9) | |
| Communication / Decision making | 5 (11) | 8 (4) | 7 (5) | |
| Others | 0 (0) | 13 (6) | 10 (8) | |
| Cancer type | ||||
| Mixed | 33 (70) | 141 (70) | 53 (41) | <0.001 |
| Specific tumor type | 14 (30) | 60 (30) | 77 (59) | |
| Pediatrics | 2 (4) | 3 (1) | 4 (3) | 0.30 |
| Therapeutic studies | 15 (32) | 105 (52) | 81 (62) | 0.001 |
| Interventional studies | 16 (34) | 113 (56) | 85 (65) | 0.001 |
| Location of corresponding author | ||||
| Africa | 0 (0) | 3 (2) | 2 (1) | 0.38 |
| Asia | 7 (15) | 49 (24) | 27 (21) | |
| Australia | 3 (6) | 9 (5) | 5 (4) | |
| Europe | 23 (49) | 77 (38) | 48 (37) | |
| Latin America | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 4 (3) | |
| North America | 14 (30) | 63 (31) | 44 (34) | |
| Journal type | ||||
| Palliative Care | 35 (75) | 84 (42) | 24 (18) | <0.001 |
| Oncology | 2 (4) | 38 (19) | 35 (27) | |
| Other | 10 (21) | 79 (39) | 71 (55) | |
| Median sample size (IQR) | 20 (1-213) | 61 (21-184) | 60 (16-137) | 0.06 |
Abbreviations: IQR = Interquartile range