Table 1.
Baseline characteristics for all subjects at initial admission (N=6,761), before and after weighting
| Before weighting | After weighting | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC (n=5,264) | PC (n=1,497) | UC (n=5,264) | PC (n=1,497) | ||||
| Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | ASD (VR) | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | ASD (VR) | ||
| Age | Years | 63.8 (14.4) | 64.1 (14.1) | 3% (1.1) | 64.2 (13.8) | 64.1 (14.1) | <0.5% (1.0) |
| Gender | Female | 44% | 45% | 2% | 45% | 45% | <0.5% |
| Race | Black | 45% | 41% | 7% | 41% | 41% | <0.5% |
| White | 51% | 54% | 5% | 54% | 54% | <0.5% | |
| Neither white nor black | 4% | 5% | 3% | 5% | 5% | <0.5% | |
| Insurance | Medicare | 57% | 55% | 2% | 55% | 55% | <0.5% |
| Low SES | 20% | 20% | 0% | 20% | 20% | <0.5% | |
| Other | 23% | 24% | 3% | 24% | 24% | <0.5% | |
| Primary dx | Noncancer | 74% | 71% | 8% | 71% | 71% | <0.5% |
| Cancer: solid tumor | 20% | 26% | 13% | 26% | 26% | <0.5% | |
| Cancer: heme | 5% | 4% | 8% | 4% | 4% | <0.5% | |
| ICU | Admitted via | 30% | 36% | 12% | 36% | 36% | <0.5% |
| Surgery | Admitted via | 16% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% | <0.5% |
| Comorbidities | Elixhauser index | 3.4 (1.6) | 3.9 (1.7) | 31% (0.9) | 3.9 (1.7) | 3.9 (1.7) | <0.5% (1.0) |
All data are baseline at admission for the participant’s first hospital admission during the study period. UC: Usual care; PC: Palliative care. Absolute standardized difference (ASD) measures the imbalance between groups on baseline characteristics, taking into account both means and variances; variance ratio (VR) measures the variance of continuous variables. ASD<10% and 0.9<VR<1.1 are rules of thumb for adequate balance in propensity score matching. SD: Standard deviation. SES: Socioeconomic status. ICU: Intensive Care Unit. Primary payer: ‘Medicare’ includes Medicare and Managed Medicare; ‘Low SES’ includes Medicaid, Managed Medicaid, Self-Pay, and uninsured, unable to pay, and not qualified for Medicaid; ‘Other’ incorporates all other insurers. ICU and Surgery: ‘On admission’. Patient visited ICU or underwent surgery on day of hospital admission. Comorbidities: Elixhauser index is an additive count of the presence/absence (1|0) of 31 specific conditions.