Table 2.
Baseline Characteristics
| Characteristic | Intervention Group (n = 97) |
Usual Care Group (n = 102) |
P value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age, mean (SD) | 66 (14) | 62 (12) | 0.0497 |
| Male patients, No. (%) | 48 (49) | 56 (55) | 0.4444 |
| Caucasian, No. (%) | 45 (46) | 53 (52) | 0.6549† |
| African American, No. (%) | 48 (49) | 45 (44) | |
| APACHE II score, Mean (SD)@,25 | 17 (5) | 17 (6) | 0.9233 |
| Terminal Illness, No. (%) | 42 (43) | 37 (36) | 0.3144 |
| Enrollment Criteria, No. (%) | |||
| SNF/LTAC | 29 (30) | 20 (20) | 0.0922 |
| End-stage neurologic condition | 10 (10) | 5 (5) | 0.1487 |
| Advanced or Metastatic cancer | 22 (23) | 14 (14) | 0.1009 |
| Arrest with neurologic compromise | 5 (5) | 7 (7) | 0.6129 |
| Multiple organ system failure | 10 (10) | 18 (18) | 0.1368 |
| End-stage organ disease | 39 (40) | 36 (35) | 0.4748 |
| Shock | 18 (19) | 22 (22) | 0.5962 |
| Acute respiratory failure | 46 (47) | 45 (44) | 0.6399 |
| Prolonged length of stay or ICU readmission* | 7 (7) | 10 (10) | 0.5139 |
| Medical Comorbidities, No. (%) | |||
| Neurologic | 31 (32) | 30 (29) | 0.6969 |
| Congestive heart failure | 32 (33) | 25 (25) | 0.1860 |
| Coronary artery or peripheral vascular disease | 40 (41) | 50 (49) | 0.2702 |
| End-stage renal disease | 26 (27) | 24 (24) | 0.5945 |
| Solid organ transplant | 5 (5) | 3 (3) | 0.4895 |
| Cancer | 32 (33) | 26 (25) | 0.2446 |
| Human immunodeficiency virus | 2 (2) | 2 (2) | 1.0 |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 23 (24) | 24 (24) | 0.9759 |
| Cirrhosis | 15 (15) | 17 (17) | 0.8174 |
| Advanced Directives and Family Data, No. (%) | |||
| No advanced directive | 71 (73) | 84 (82) | 0.2668† |
| Advanced directive not with patient | 14 (14) | 11 (11) | |
| Advanced directive with patient | 12 (12) | 7 (7) | |
| Family present | 94 (97) | 101 (99) | 0.3589 |
| Spouse/partner | 34 (35) | 45 (44) | 0.2334 |
| Adult children | 43 (44) | 37 (36) | 0.1962 |
| Sibling | 24 (25) | 19 (19) | 0.2581 |
| Parents | 9 (9) | 12 (12) | 0.6036 |
| Grandchildren | 2 (2) | 1 (1) | 0.6099 |
| 2nd degree relative | 7 (7) | 10 (10) | 0.5438 |
| Other, non-related friend | 5 (5) | 3 (3) | 0.4854 |
Abbreviations: APACHE, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation; SNF, skilled nursing facility; LTAC, Long term acute care; ICU, intensive care unit.
@
Range, 0-71 points; a higher score indicates an increased risk of mortality. A modified version of APACHE II was utilized in which all Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores were assumed to be normal due to inherent difficulties in estimating GCS on chart review, e.g. for patients who were sedated on arrival
*
Patients enrolled for hospital length of stay greater than five days or ICU readmission within thirty days
†
P value provided for difference between all options for race and advanced directives