Table 1.
Patient Baseline Characteristics (N = 200)
| Characteristics | Frequency/mean | %/SD |
|---|---|---|
| Age (years)—range: 27–93 | 64.4 | 13.0 |
| Gender | ||
| Male | 158 | 79 |
| Female | 42 | 21 |
| Ethnicity | ||
| Chinese | 117 | 58.5 |
| Malay | 46 | 23.0 |
| Indian/others | 37 | 18.5 |
| Marital status | ||
| Married | 119 | 59.5 |
| Not married | 81 | 40.5 |
| Number of children—range: 0–10 | 2 | 2 |
| Education | ||
| Primary education or less | 90 | 45 |
| Secondary education or more | 110 | 55 |
| Household income | ||
| Less than $500 | 49 | 24.5 |
| $500—$2999 | 57 | 28.5 |
| $3000 and above | 41 | 20.5 |
| Do not know/refuse to answer | 53 | 26.5 |
| Participation in advance care planning | ||
| Yes | 49 | 24.5 |
| No | 151 | 75.5 |
| Stated preference for type of EOL care | ||
| Aggressive EOL care (full treatment) | 101 | 50.5 |
| Non-aggressive EOL care (limited additional treatment/comfort care) | 99 | 49.5 |
| KCCQ quality of life score—range: 0–100 | 47.6 | 29.6 |
| KCCQ clinical summary score—range: 0–97.5 | 56.6 | 21.6 |
| Depressive symptoms score—range: 0–19 | 5.7 | 4.2 |
| Financial constraints | ||
| Very much (high) | 71 | 35.5 |
| Not very much/not at all | 129 | 64.5 |
| Prognostic understanding | ||
| Treatment will not cure heart failure (correct) | 50 | 25 |
| Treatment will cure heart failure/unsure | 150 | 75 |
| KCCQ self-efficacy score—range: 0–100 | 82 | 22.7 |
| Decisional conflict score—range: 0–88.9 | 11.8 | 16.1 |
| Discussed care preference with surrogate decision-maker | ||
| Yes | 104 | 52 |
| No | 96 | 48 |
Freq., frequency; SD, standard deviation; IQR: interquartile range; EOL, end-of-life; KCCQ: Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire