Table 1.
Characteristics of people using palliative home care support (exposed) and people who did not use palliative home care support (unexposed) before and after propensity score matching
| Characteristics | Before propensity score matching (n=82 621) | After propensity score matching (n=17 674) | ||
| Exposed | Unexposed | Exposed | Unexposed | |
| No. of patients (%) | 11 149 (13.5) | 71 472 (86.5) | 8837 (50) | 8837 (50) |
| Earliest use of palliative home care in days, median (IQR) | 75 (154) | / | 73 (152) | / |
| Mean age at time of death (SD) | 74.2 (12.8) | 76.5 (14.2) | 74.4 (12.7) | 75.0 (12.3) |
| Sex | ||||
| Men | 55.2 | 54.6 | 56.0 | 55.1 |
| Women | 44.8 | 45.4 | 44.0 | 44.9 |
| Cause of death | ||||
| Neoplasm | 74.6 | 20.6 | 72.7 | 72.8 |
| COPD | 2.5 | 4.6 | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| Other organ failure | 3.2 | 5.9 | 3.5 | 3.1 |
| Neurodegenerative | 4.4 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 5.1 |
| Other | 15.3 | 63.8 | 16.2 | 16.3 |
| Household composition | ||||
| Married | 60.4 | 44.6 | 60.4 | 61.4 |
| Single-person household | 26.2 | 41.5 | 26.7 | 26.4 |
| Living together | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 3.6 |
| One-parent family | 6.4 | 6.7 | 6.2 | 5.9 |
| Other | 2.9 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Education level | ||||
| No education | 8.1 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 7.7 |
| Primary school education | 34.7 | 34.9 | 34.7 | 35.2 |
| Secondary school education | 44.8 | 45.2 | 45.0 | 44.6 |
| Postsecondary school education | 12.5 | 11.2 | 12.4 | 12.6 |
| Income in quartiles* | ||||
| Lowest income quartile | 29.2 | 26.2 | 28.4 | 28.7 |
| Second income quartile | 22.5 | 23.5 | 21.7 | 21.9 |
| Third income quartile | 24.1 | 24.5 | 24.3 | 24.8 |
| Highest income quartile | 24.3 | 25.9 | 25.6 | 24.6 |
| Region | ||||
| Flemish region | 66.4 | 53.1 | 65.4 | 64.5 |
| Walloon region | 28.8 | 36.8 | 29.6 | 30.4 |
| Brussels capital region | 4.8 | 10.1 | 5.0 | 5.1 |
| Urbanisation | ||||
| Very high | 25.1 | 33.7 | 25.7 | 25.6 |
| High | 28.5 | 27.5 | 29.2 | 28.7 |
| Average | 32.0 | 24.4 | 30.7 | 30.6 |
| Low | 12.9 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 13.7 |
| Rural | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Hospital use in the last 2 years | ||||
| ≥120 days hospitalised | 4.7 | 5.3 | 4.6 | 4.0 |
| ≥6 hospitalisations | 46.5 | 14.7 | 44.5 | 44.6 |
Values are percentages of patients unless stated otherwise. All percentages are valid percentages. Missing values existed in the full population (n=107 847) for household composition (n=1399; 1.6%), education level (n=11 382; 13.1%), income (n=3563; 4.1%), region (1657; 1.9%), urbanisation (1657; 1.9%).
*Income quartiles were calculated on the full population of decedents (n=107 847).
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.