Table 1.
Characteristics of patient participants
| Type of cancer | N | Sex (male/female) | Age in years (mean (range)) | Ethnicity (white British/other) | Socioeconomic status* (1–2/3–5) | Under community palliative care prior to ED visit (yes/no) | Reasons for ED attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lung | 4 | 3/1 | 70 (45–86) | 3/1 | 3/1 | 1/3 | Focal seizures; malaise; pain; breathlessness and malaise. |
| Haematological malignancies | 4 | 2/2 | 75 (59–90) | 4/0 | 4/0 | 1/3 | Pain; rectal bleeding; fever; fever. |
| Prostate, gynaecological and urinary tract | 4 | 2/2 | 72 (55–88) | 3/1 | 4/0 | 2/2 | Fall; pain; facial weakness and malaise; haematuria. |
| Gastrointestinal and hepatocellular | 3 | 1/2 | 59 (42–68) | 1/2 | 2/1 | 1/2 | Pain; pain fever and cough; fever. |
| Other | 3 | 1/2 | 37 (19–47) | 0/3 | 1/2 | 0/3 | Pain; facial numbness and headache; fever and pain. |
*Socioeconomic status derived from index of multiple deprivation (IMD) quintiles (1st—most deprived; 5th—least deprived). The IMD is an area based measure of deprivation that uses Lower Super Output Area geography to compare deprivation between neighbourhoods in England.
ED, emergency department.