Table 1.
Baseline patient characteristics by country.
| Belgium | Germany | United Kingdom | Hungary | The Netherlands | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patients, N | 15 | 34 | 35 | 42 | 31 | 157 |
| Age, years (N = 153), mean (SD) | 69 (12) | 69 (12) | 66 (12) | 68 (8) | 70 (8) | 68 (10) |
| Gender, N (%) | ||||||
| Female | 8 (53) | 18 (53) | 22 (63) | 25 (60) | 17 (55) | 87 (55) |
| Male | 7 (47) | 16 (47) | 13 (37) | 17 (40) | 14 (45) | 70 (45) |
| Diagnosis, N (%) | ||||||
| Cancer | 12 (80) | 31 (91) | 18 (51) | 14 (33) | 22 (71) | 97 (62) |
| COPD | 3 (20) | 3 (9) | 10 (29) | 17 (41) | 6 (19) | 39 (25) |
| CHF | 0 | 0 | 7 (20) | 11 (26) | 3 (10) | 21 (13) |
| Time spent in bed or lying down during the daytime (N = 156), N (%) | ||||||
| Hardly ever in bed | 7 (47) | 15 (46) | 8 (23) | 19 (45) | 7 (23) | 56 (36) |
| Less than half a day | 3 (20) | 10 (30) | 15 (43) | 9 (21) | 17 (55) | 54 (35) |
| More than half a day | 3 (20) | 5 (15) | 12 (34) | 11 (26) | 4 (13) | 35 (22) |
| All day | 2 (13) | 3 (9) | 0 | 3 (7) | 3 (10) | 11 (7) |
| POS sum scorea (N = 132), mean (SD) | 15 (7) | 14 (7) | 11 (6) | 12 (7) | 12 (6) | 12 (6) |
| Place of residence at baseline, N (%) | ||||||
| Home | 13 (87) | 31 (91) | 34 (97) | 39 (93) | 27 (87) | 144 (92) |
| Nursing home | 2 (13) | 0 | 1 (3) | 1 (2) | 4 (13) | 8 (5) |
| Hospital | 0 | 3 (9) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 (2) |
| Hospice | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 (5) | 0 | 2 (1) |
| Type of integrated palliative care initiative,b N (%) | ||||||
| Specialised home care palliative care support service | 10 (67) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 (6) |
| Specialised palliative care service based in hospital in conjunction with specialised palliative home care services and/or other primary and secondary care services | 0 | 34 (100) | 0 | 12 (29) | 12 (39) | 58 (37) |
| Specialised palliative care service based in hospice in conjunction with primary and secondary care | 0 | 0 | 26 (74) | 12 (29) | 0 | 38 (24) |
| General palliative home care service in conjunction with specialised palliative care (support) service | 5 (33) | 0 | 8 (23) | 12 (29) | 4 (13) | 29 (18) |
| General palliative care nursing home service based in hospital in conjunction with secondary care | 0 | 0 | 1 (3) | 0 | 5 (16) | 6 (4) |
| General palliative care service based in hospital in conjunction with primary care | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 (14) | 10 (32) | 16 (10) |
SD: standard deviation; COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CHF: chronic heart failure; POS: Palliative care Outcome Scale; HCP: healthcare professional.
Due to rounding up some percentages do not add up to 100%.
a
POS sum score ranges from 0 (good overall condition) to 40 (very bad overall condition).
b
Specialised means that the majority of HCPs involved in the initiatives are palliative care specialists, while general means that of the HCPs involved in the initiative only a few are palliative care specialist or have received basic palliative care training.