Table 1.
Patientcharacteristics
| Medical | Palliative | ||
| Assistance | Control | ||
| In dying | Patients | ||
| (n=920) | (n=49 176) | ||
| Age | ≤75 years | 338 (37) | 15 211 (31) |
| >75 years | 582 (63) | 33 965 (69) | |
| Sex | Female | 484 (53) | 24 826 (50) |
| Male | 436 (47) | 24 350 (50) | |
| Home location* | Urban | 812 (88) | 44 758 (91) |
| Rural | 108 (12) | 4418 (9) | |
| Year of death† | 2016–2017 | 207 (23) | 21 532 (44) |
| 2018–2019 | 713 (77) | 27 644 (56) | |
| Season of year | Spring | 183 (20) | 10 958 (22) |
| Summer | 198 (22) | 12 036 (24) | |
| Autumn | 265 (29) | 12 991 (26) | |
| Winter | 274 (30) | 13 191 (27) | |
| Day of death‡ | Weekday | 778 (85) | 35 849 (73) |
| Weekend | 142 (15) | 13 327 (27) | |
| Malignancy diagnosis§ | Present | 661 (72) | 35 548 (72) |
| Absent | 259 (28) | 13 628 (28) | |
| Total medications in past month¶ | Mean | 9.1±5.3 | 9.5±6.2 |
| Clinic contacts in past year | Mean | 26.01±16.02 | 29.29±18.40 |
| Emergency visits in past year | Mean | 1.33±1.64 | 1.59±2.06 |
| Admissions in past year | Mean | 0.93±1.15 | 1.53±1.53 |
| Overall frailty in past year** | Mean | 8.62±3.75 | 10.56±3.65 |
Data are count (percentage) except where noted as mean±SD.
*Missing values assigned to rural (n=109 of 50 096).
†Denotes first 18 months (2016–2017) and second 18 months (2018–2019), respectively.
‡Saturday and Sunday denote weekend.
§Detailed diagnoses appear in online supplemental appendix §2.
¶Detailed medications appear in online supplemental appendix §3.
**Based on Johns Hopkins University Ambulatory Care Groups.