Table 1.
Patient characteristics by palliative care referral
| Palliative Care Referral (Days before death) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Early (> 90 days) | Late (≤ 90 days) | p-value |
| (n = 91) | (n = 187) | ||
| Age (years) | 73 (11.6) | 78 (11.7) | < 0.001 |
| Gender (male) | 40 (44.0%) | 95 (50.8%) | 0.28 |
| Marital Status | |||
| Married | 59 (64.8%) | 110 (58.8%) | 0.11 |
| Widowed | 18 (19.8%) | 47 (25.1%) | |
| Single | 7 (7.7%) | 11 (5.9%) | |
| Divorced / Separated | 7 (7.7%) | 10 (5.4%) | |
| Defacto | 0 | 7 (3.7%) | |
| Unknown | 0 | 2 (1.1%) | |
| Place of Birth | |||
| Australia / New Zealand | 58 (63.7%) | 122 (65.3%) | 0.83 |
| United Kingdom / Ireland | 9 (9.9%) | 15 (8.0%) | |
| Other European Countries | 14 (15.4%) | 32 (17.1%) | |
| Asia | 2 (2.2%) | 6 (3.2%) | |
| Others | 8 (8.8%) | 11 (5.9%) | |
| Unknown | 0 | 1 (0.5%) | |
| Time between Palliative Care referral and death | |||
| Median [25th - 75th percentile] days | 177 [133–295] | 26 [11–49] | |
| Place of Death | |||
| Palliative Care Unit | 50 (18%) | 105 (37.8%) | 0.98 |
| Acute Hospital | 22 (7.9%) | 44 (15.8%) | |
| Home/Residential Care Facility | 19 (6.8%) | 38 (13.7%) | |
Data presented as mean (SD), median [25th – 75th percentile] or count %