Table 3.

Factors Associated With Hospice Episode Outcomes for ARIC Hospice Users (2006–2012).^a

	Hospice Length of Stay ≤7 Days(N = 1244)		Hospice Length of Stay >180 Days(N = 1151)		Live Discharge From Hospice (N = 1184)
Variable	Odds Ratio	Confidence Interval	Odds Ratio	Confidence Interval	Odds Ratio	Confidence Interval
Patterns of care prior to hospice use
Any admissionb	2.90c	1.72–4.89	0.39c	0.25–0.59	0.33c	0.21–0.52
Increasing hospital useb	1.92c	1.36–2.71	0.44d	0.24–0.79	0.55e	0.34–0.88
Hospice diagnosis
Dementia	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
CVD	l.92e	1.10–3.34	0.45d	0.25–0.80	1.21	0.69–2.13
Cancer	1.12	0.67–1.87	0.38c	0.22–0.63	0.33c	0.19–0.56
COPD	1.15	0.57–2.32	0.69	0.32–1.49	0.62	0.26–1.46
Other	2.50c	1.47–4.23	0.64	0.37–1.10	1.01	0.58–1.76
>5CCI	1.19	0.87–1.63	1.23	0.83–1.83	1.24	0.84–1.82
Missing CCI	1.07	0.48–2.37	1.26	0.70–2.27	0.45e	0.22–0.92
Characteristics
65–74 years	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
75–84 years	1.33	0.95–1.86	1.28	0.87–1.90	0.62e	0.43–0.90
85+ years	1.55	0.97–2.48	0.88	0.46–1.70	0.44d	0.24–0.81
Female	0.85	0.64–1.13	1.35	0.95–1.93	0.78	0.56–1.11
Married	0.65e	0.46–0.93	2.04c	1.39–3.01	1.51e	1.01–2.24
High school degree	1.22	0.88–1.70	1.04	0.71–1.51	1.43	0.98–2.09
NH resident-AFU	0.36e	0.13–0.99	2.54e	1.14–5.68	2.16	0.95–4.92
Fee-for-service	0.82	0.60–1.12	1.09	0.74–1.61	0.68e	0.46–0.99
Study site and race
Forsyth (black)	0.38	0.14–1.07	0.86	0.24–3.02	0.68	0.18–2.63
Forsyth (white)	0.76	0.44–1.30	1	0.50–2.01	0.94	0.47–1.87
Jackson (black)	0.27c	0.13–0.53	2.24e	1.02–4.91	9.86c	4.43–21.98
Minneapolis (white)	1.09	0.65–1.82	0.56	0.27–1.16	0.71	0.36–1.40
Washington (white)	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
Hospice facility
Free standing	0.92	0.59–1.44	1.4	0.78–2.50	1.53	0.91–2.57
For-profit	1.52	0.86–2.68	0.51	0.25–1.02	0.85	0.42–1.71
Nonprofit/government	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref

Abbreviations: AFU, annual follow-up survey; ARIC, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities; CCI, Charlson comorbidity index assessed using inpatient claims between 2005 and 2012; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CVD, cardiovascular disease; NH, nursing home.

^aHigh school degree indicates completion of high school degree or equivalent. The short-stay and long-stay models excluded episodes with a start date later than December 24, 2012, and July 1, 2012, respectively, to ensure complete measurement of the outcome. Sixty-one ongoing episodes not discharged by the end of the study period were excluded from the live discharge analysis.

^bOver the year prior to hospice admission.

^cP < .001.

^dP < .01.

^eP < .05.