Table 1.

BASELINE CHARACTERISTICS OF PARKLAND PATIENTS RECEIVING PALLIATIVE CARE CONSULTS (2000–2010) (N = 5083)

Characteristic	All Patients N = 5083a	Non-Hispanic White n = 1568	Non-Hispanic Black n = 2063	Hispanic n = 1219	Asian n = 211	p-value
Mean age, years	56.6	56.9	58.3	56.4	60.0	< 0.001**
Female (%)	46.3	43.2	46.7	49.4	47.9	0.01*
Insurance Type (%)						<0.001**
County Programb	44.8	47.2	31.7	62.0	54.5
Medicaid	17.4	15.1	22.9	11.2	17.1
Medicare	24.1	21.5	34.0	13.0	12.8
Private Insurance	2.6	3.2	3.4	0.8	1.0
Uninsured	11.1	13.1	8.1	12.8	14.7
Cause of Deathc(%)						< 0.001**
Cancer	83.8	82.1	86.6	81.0	86.7
Liver Cirrhosis	2.4	2.9	1.5	3.5	1.9
AIDS	1.4	1.1	2.0	0.8	0.0
ESRDd	1.6	0.6	0.9	4.3	1.0
CHFe	1.3	1.1	2.0	0.8	0
Site of Death (%)						<0.001**
Home	34.9	36.6	32.6	35.4	39.3
Hospitalf	22.8	21.7	23.8	22.8	21.3
Nursing Home	4.5	5.0	6.1	1.3	2.8
Inpatient Hospice	1.9	2.4	1.9	1.6	0.5
Other/Unknown	35.9	34.2	35.5	38.8	36.0
Mean Duration of Palliative Care
Services, years	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	0.78
Referred to Hospice (%)	39.9	38.7	38.5	41.0	39.8	0.50
Received Hospice (%)	37.6	37.4	37.1	38.5	38.9	0.86

^*p-v alue≤.01

^**p-v alue≤.001

^aMissing race/ethnicity data on 22 patients

^bA charity health care assistance program for residents of Dallas County

^cOnly the 5 leading causes of death are listed

^dEnd Stage Renal Disease

^eCongestive Heart Failure

^fHospital includes ED, inpatient ward, and ICU