Table 4.

Patient and care characteristics in appropriate and inappropriate care^a

	Appropriate care	Inappropriate care	P-value of a differenceb
	n = 429 %	n = 309 %
Patient characteristics
Patient gender
Female	49	53	n.s.
Patient age
Mean (range)	74 (20-102)	74 (10-101)	n.s.
Diagnosisc:
Cancerde	58	47	0.002
Other physical diseasesdf	29	37	0.025
Old age/general decline	21	24	n.s.
Dementia	13	14	n.s.
Psychiatric diseased	0.5	3	0.011
None	1	1	n.s.
Care characteristics
Location of carec:
Home, primary cared	57	36	<0.001
Home, specialist outpatient care	17	18	n.s.
Hospital, inpatient departmentd	25	36	0.001
Nursing home or residential home	25	28	n.s.
Hospiced	8	3	0.003
Other	3	2	n.s.
Responsible for this carec
Physiciansd	74	82	0.013
-General practitionersd	43	32	0.006
-Clinical specialistsd	19	37	<0.001
-Elderly care physicians	5	6	n.s.
-Otherd	1	4	0.015
Nursing staffd	59	28	<0.001
Patient and/or relativesd	19	8	<0.001
Otherg	8	8	n.s.

^aMissing values ranged from 0.0 to 7.1 %

^b P-value calculated using Fisher’s exact test for dichotomous values and Chi-square test (two-tailed) for categorical variables (cut-off point p < 0.05)

^cOne or more answers could be given

^dSignificant difference between appropriate and inappropriate care (p < 0.05). n.s.: not significant

^eCancer: In appropriate care: 12 % colorectal cancer, 11 % lung cancer, 10 % prostate cancer, 5 % breast cancer, 3 % haematological malignancy, 22 % other, 2 % unknown. In inappropriate care: 7 % colorectal cancer, 9 % lung cancer, 4 % prostate cancer, 5 % breast cancer, 7 % haematological malignancy, 12 % other, 1 % unknown

^f Other physical diseases: In appropriate care: 9 % heart disease, 6 % neurological disease, non-CVA, 5 % COPD, 4 % CVA, 9 % other. In 'inappropriate care: 10 % heart disease, 6 % neurological disease, non-CVA, 4 % COPD, 7 % CVA, 16 % other

^gOther: e.g. chaplains, psychologists and physiotherapists, hospital administration or Health Insurance Company