Table 3.
Differences in Complexity Across Disease Groups: Patients with Moderate or High Complexity (N%)
| Domain/Subdomain | Cancer | Organ Failure | Neurological Disorder | Dementia | Frailty/Multimorbidity | Total | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical | 318 (63.0%) | 121 (73.3%)a | 30 (63.8%) | 36 (47.4%)b | 17 (65.4%) | 522 (63.7%) | 0.004 |
| Physical | 292 (57.9%) | 114 (69.1%)a | 28 (59.6%) | 31 (40.8%)b | 17 (65.4%) | 482 (58.9%) | 0.001 |
| Therapeutic | 192 (38.2%) | 73 (44.2%) | 17 (37.0%) | 22 (28.9%) | 10 (38.5%) | 314 (38.5%) | 0.258 |
| Psychological | 252 (50.5%) | 71 (44.9%) | 24 (54.5%) | 22 (32.8%)b | 9 (36.0%) | 378 (47.7%) | 0.037 |
| Personality | 119 (24.3%) | 38 (24.5%) | 8 (18.6%) | 14 (21.9%) | 4 (16.0%) | 183 (23.6%) | 0.790 |
| Emotional | 224 (46.0%) | 64 (43.0%) | 21 (55.3%) | 15 (27.3%) | 9 (39.1%) | 333 (44.3%) | 0.055 |
| Spiritual | 149 (33.6%) | 38 (29.7%) | 9 (33.3%) | 1 (3.7%)b | 4 (23.5%) | 201 (31.3%) | 0.023 |
| Meaning | 103 (26.4%) | 29 (24.2%) | 8 (38.1%) | 1 (6.3%) | 3 (17.6%) | 144 (25.5%) | 0.222 |
| Connection | 71 (16.2%) | 24 (19.0%) | 3 (11.5%) | 0 (0.0%) | 2 (11.8%) | 100 (15.9%) | 0.191 |
| Transcendence | 110 (30.5%) | 20 (17.2%)b | 7 (36.8%) | 0 (0.0%)b | 4 (23.5%) | 141 (26.9%) | 0.010 |
| Social/Family | 348 (68.9%) | 121 (73.3%) | 34 (72.3%) | 47 (61.8%) | 12 (46.2%)b | 562 (68.6%) | 0.045 |
| Relationships | 172 (34.1%) | 64 (39.3%) | 18 (38.3%) | 20 (26.7%) | 7 (26.9%) | 281 (34.5%) | 0.323 |
| Emotional | 236 (47.0%) | 80 (49.4%) | 27 (58.7%) | 32 (43.2%) | 10 (38.5%) | 385 (47.5%) | 0.409 |
| Practical | 222 (44.0%) | 80 (48.8%) | 23 (48.9%) | 28 (37.3%) | 8 (32.0%) | 361 (44.3%) | 0.312 |
| External | 210 (44.0%) | 83 (52.9%) | 19 (47.5%) | 28 (39.4%) | 9 (37.5%) | 349 (45.4%) | 0.232 |
| Financial | 74 (15.2%) | 25 (16.0%) | 3 (7.5%) | 8 (10.7%) | 5 (20.0%) | 115 (14.7%) | 0.477 |
| Ethical | 156 (31.6%) | 42 (26.3%) | 14 (31.8%) | 13 (20.0%) | 8 (33.3%) | 233 (29.6%) | 0.295 |
| Information | 109 (23.0%) | 16 (10.5%)b | 4 (10.5%) | 4 (7.7%)b | 3 (13.6%) | 136 (18.5%) | 0.001 |
| Suitability of treatment efforts | 78 (18.7%) | 27 (18.6%) | 12 (29.3%) | 12 (18.5%) | 7 (29.2%) | 136 (19.7%) | 0.384 |
| Desire to hasten death | 50 (12.9%) | 16 (12.2%) | 3 (9.1%) | 3 (7.0%) | 4 (20.0%) | 76 (12.3%) | 0.618 |
| Death | 283 (61.9%) | 82 (58.2%) | 21 (46.7%) | 28 (38.9%)b | 14 (53.8%) | 428 (57.8%) | 0.003 |
| Location | 215 (58.9%)a | 59 (54.1%) | 10 (30.3%)b | 15 (22.7%)b | 9 (36.0%) | 308 (51.5%) | 0.000 |
| Situation of last days | 67 (42.7%) | 18 (36.0%) | 5 (29.4%) | 6 (18.8%) | 6 (35.3%) | 102 (37.4%) | 0.128 |
| Grief | 169 (38.9%) | 39 (29.5%) | 17 (38.6%) | 14 (20.6%)b | 6 (24.0%) | 245 (34.8%) | 0.015 |
Notes: N(%): number of patients in each disease group and their percentage with respect to the total. The significant differences according to the standardized residuals for Pearson’s Chi-square test are marked in bold: aGreater than 1.96 (observed frequency is greater than expected); bLess than −1.96 (observed frequency is less than expected).