Table 1. Characteristics of deceased patients and their relatives (n = 175).
| Without PCT consultation n (%) |
With PCT consultation N (%) |
P-value± | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N = 98 | N = 77 | |||
| Patients | ||||
| Gender‡ | Male | 57 (58 | 52 (68) | 0.20 |
| Female | 41 (42) | 25 (32) | ||
| Age† (years) | Mean (sd) | 69 (12.5) | 65 (11.1) | 0.03 |
| Marital Status‡ | Married/ living with partner | 62 (66) | 53 (74) | 0.29 |
| Widowed /divorced / living alone/other | 32 (34) | 19 (26) | ||
| Missing | 0 | 5 | ||
| Education‡ | Low | 30 (33) | 19 (27) | 0.30 |
| Intermediate | 43 (48) | 35 (49) | ||
| High | 13 (14) | 15 (21) | ||
| Unknown | 4 (4) | 2 (3) | ||
| Missing | 8 | 6 | ||
| Religious‡ | Yes | 45 (49) | 30 (42) | 0.37 |
| Duration of severe illness according to relative‡ | ≤ 6 Months | 43 (46) | 25 (34) | 0.13 |
| >6 Months | 51 (54) | 48 (66) | ||
| Missing | 5 | 4 | ||
| Ward‡ | Nonsurgical | 78 (80) | 46 (60) | <0.01 |
| Surgical | 20 (20) | 31 (40) | ||
| Relative involved in in-formal care last 24 hrs‡ | Yes | 81 (85) | 63 (84) | 0.85 |
| No | 14 (15) | 10 (16) | ||
| Missing | 3 | 4 | ||
| Duration of last admission† (days) | Mean (sd) | 13,5 (12,1) | 13,7 (16,9) | 0.93 |
| Relatives | ||||
| Age† (years) | Mean (sd) | 57,1 (12,7) | 56,1 (12,8) | 0.62 |
| Gender‡ | Male | 37 (39) | 25 (35) | 0.58 |
| Female | 58 (61) | 47 (65) | ||
| Missing | 3 | 3 | ||
| Relation‡ | Partner/spouse | 44 (48) | 42 (60) | 0.09 |
| Child (in law) | 38 (41) | 18 (26) | ||
| Other | 10 (11) | 10 (14) | ||
| Missing | 6 | 7 | ||
† T-test
‡Chi-square test
± Variables with a difference <0.10 were included in the multivariable model