Table 1.
Background characteristics of participating family members and patients
| Total sample | Denmark | The Netherlands | p a | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valid n b | Statisticc | Valid n b | Statisticc | Valid n b | Statisticc | ||
| Family member | |||||||
| Age, median years (IQRd) | 1055 | 57 (22) | 553 | 54 (22) | 502 | 60 (20) | <0.001 |
| Female | 1056 | 724 (69) | 554 | 399 (72) | 502 | 325 (65) | 0.01 |
| Relationship to patient, n (%) | 1061 | 559 | 502 | <0.001 | |||
| Spouse or partner | 499 (47) | 209 (37) | 290 (58) | ||||
| Child | 372 (35) | 235 (42) | 137 (27) | ||||
| Sibling | 64 ( 6) | 32 ( 6) | 32 ( 6) | ||||
| Parent | 60 ( 6) | 37 ( 7) | 23 ( 5) | ||||
| Other | 66 ( 6) | 46 ( 8) | 20 ( 4) | ||||
| Patient | |||||||
| Age, median years (IQR) | 894 | 69 (16) | 408 | 70 (15) | 486 | 68(17) | 0.33 |
| Female, n (%) | 894 | 340 (38) | 408 | 144 (35) | 486 | 196 (40) | 0.12 |
| Days in ICU, median days (IQR) | 893 | 8 (10) | 406 | 9 (11) | 487 | 7 (10) | 0.16 |
| Level of therapy, n (%) | 856 | 408 | 448 | <0.001 | |||
| Full | 630 (74) | 315 (77) | 315 (70) | ||||
| Life-sustaining therapy withheld | 123 (14) | 38 (9) | 85 (19) | ||||
| Life-sustaining therapy withdrawn | 103 (12) | 55 (13) | 48 (11) | ||||
| Discharge, n (%) | 895 | 408 | 487 | <0.001 | |||
| Planned | 658 (74) | 266 (65) | 392 (81) | ||||
| Dead | 178 (20) | 88 (22) | 90 (18) | ||||
| Othere | 59 ( 7) | 54 (13) | 5 ( 1) | ||||
| Reason for admission, n (%) | 894 | 407 | 487 | <0.001 | |||
| Respiratory | 311 (35) | 142 (35) | 169 (35) | ||||
| Sepsis | 152 (17) | 52 (13) | 100 (21) | ||||
| Cardiovascular | 274 (31) | 119 (29) | 155 (32) | ||||
| Other | 157 (18) | 94 (23) | 63 (13) | ||||
| Mechanical ventilation, n (%) | 894 | 783 (88) | 408 | 346 (85) | 486 | 437 (90) | 0.02 |
| APACHE II, median score (IQR) | 509 | 21 (10) | 59 | 24 (12) | 450 | 21 (10) | 0.01 |
| SAPS II, median score (IQR) | 638 | 50 (24) | 277 | 51 (22) | 361 | 48 (26) | 0.09 |
APACHE II Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, SAPS II Simplified Acute Physiology Score II
aThe Mann-Whitney U test or χ2/Fisher exact test as appropriate
bDifferent numbers due to missing data
cExcept where noted, the statistics provided are number (percentage)
dInterquartile range (percentile75–25)
eIncludes patients who were transferred to other hospitals or who were discharged because of a lack of available beds in the ICU