Table 2.
Indicators of appropriate and inappropriate end-of-life care in the last 14 days of life in the matched cohorts
| Palliative home care support (n=17 674) | RR (95% CI) | ||
| Yes (n=8837) | No (n=8837) | ||
| Indicators of appropriate end-of-life care | |||
| Home death | 56.2 | 13.8 | 4.08 (3.86 to 4.31) |
| Mean number of family physician contacts (SD)* | 3.1 (3.0) | 0.8 (1.2) | / |
| Mean number of primary caregiver contacts (SD)* | 9.0 (6.2) | 2.3 (4.0) | / |
| Indicators of inappropriate end-of-life care | |||
| Hospital death | 39.0 | 74.8 | 0.52 (0.51 to 0.54) |
| Hospital admission | 27.4 | 60.8 | 0.45 (0.43 to 0.47) |
| ICU admission | 18.3 | 40.4 | 0.45 (0.43 to 0.48) |
| ED admission | 15.2 | 28.1 | 0.54 (0.51 to 0.57) |
| Diagnostic testing | 27.2 | 63.2 | 0.43 (0.41 to 0.45) |
| Blood transfusion | 2.7 | 5.9 | 0.47 (0.40 to 0.54) |
| Surgery | 0.5 | 2.8 | 0.19 (0.14 to 0.26) |
*P<0.0001 calculated using two-sided t-test statistic.
ED, emergency department; ICU, intensive care unit; RR, relative risk.