Characteristics of COPD patients using palliative home care (PHC) in five timing categories
| Demographics | PHC timing before death days | ||||
| >360 | 360–181 | 180–91 | 90–31 | 30–1 | |
| Selected group# | 110 (6.3) | 129 (7.4) | 143 (8.2) | 262 (15.0) | 1107 (63.2) |
| Time between first PHC use and death days | 476 (410–555) | 256 (214–301) | 136 (110–161) | 52 (41–69) | 4 (1–11) |
| Sex¶ | |||||
| Male | 71 (64.5) | 68 (52.7) | 91 (63.6) | 155 (59.2) | 676 (61.1) |
| Female | 39 (35.5) | 61 (47.3) | 52 (36.4) | 107 (40.8) | 432 (39.0) |
| Age years¶ | |||||
| 18–64 | 13 (11.8) | 18 (14.0) | 19 (13.3) | 25 (9.5) | 55 (5.0) |
| 65–74 | 17 (15.5) | 28 (21.7) | 26 (18.2) | 56 (21.4) | 153 (13.8) |
| 75–84 | 44 (40.0) | 40 (31.0) | 56 (39.2) | 108 (41.2) | 396 (35.8) |
| 85–94 | 33 (30.0) | 37 (28.7) | 38 (26.6) | 71 (27.1) | 450 (40.7) |
| ≥95 | 2 (1.8) | 6 (4.7) | 4 (2.8) | 2 (0.8) | 52 (4.7) |
| Educational level¶ | |||||
| None | 9 (8.2) | 19 (14.7) | 7 (4.9) | 19 (7.3) | 100 (9.0) |
| Primary | 23 (20.9) | 42 (32.6) | 49 (34.3) | 81 (30.9) | 333 (30.1) |
| Lower secondary | 22 (20.0) | 26 (20.2) | 32 (22.4) | 64 (24.4) | 232 (21.0) |
| Upper secondary | 11 (10.0) | 12 (9.3) | 25 (17.5) | 31 (11.8) | 126 (11.4) |
| Higher | 14 (12.7) | 9 (7.0) | 7 (4.9) | 18 (6.9) | 80 (7.2) |
| Household type¶ | |||||
| Single person | 30 (27.3) | 36 (27.9) | 34 (23.8) | 61 (23.3) | 250 (22.6) |
| Living together, with no children in household | 50 (45.5) | 60 (46.5) | 77 (53.8) | 130 (49.6) | 496 (44.8) |
| Living together, with children in household | 9 (8.2) | 9 (7.0) | 11 (7.7) | 21 (8.0) | 83 (7.5) |
| One-parent family | 7 (6.4) | 10 (7.8) | 8 (5.6) | 20 (7.6) | 62 (5.6) |
| Other household types | 2 (1.8) | 1 (0.8) | 1 (3 () | 9 (3.4) | 19 (1.7) |
| Collective (nursing home, psychiatric hospital) | 12 (10.9) | 13 (10.1) | 12 (8.4) | 21 (8.0) | 197 (17.8) |
| Urbanisation¶ | |||||
| Very high | 32 (29.1) | 41 (31.8) | 38 (26.6) | 85 (32.4) | 294 (26.6) |
| High | 39 (35.5) | 37 (28.7) | 39 (27.3) | 70 (26.7) | 299 (27.0) |
| Average | 20 (18.2) | 28 (21.7) | 43 (30.1) | 67 (25.6) | 304 (27.5) |
| Low | 17 (15.5) | 21 (16.3) | 18 (12.6) | 37 (14.1) | 175 (15.8) |
| Rural | 1 (0.9) | 2 (1.6) | 4 (2.8) | 2 (0.8) | 24 (2.2) |
| Cause of death¶ | |||||
| COPD | 61 (55.5) | 83 (64.3) | 77 (53.8) | 150 (57.3) | 535 (48.3) |
| Cardiovascular diseases | 49 (44.5) | 46 (35.7) | 66 (46.2) | 112 (42.7) | 572 (51.7) |
| Previous hospitalisations¶ | |||||
| Mean (range) LOS hospitalisations in the past 2 years until 30 DBD | 48.8 (41.4–56.2) | 46.0 (39.2–52.8) | 57.5 (48.9–66.1) | 52.4 (46.9–57.9) | NA |
| Hospitalisations past 2 years-30 DBD | 3.9±2.8 | 3.9±3.2 | 4.4±3.4 | 4.4±3.6 | NA |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index¶ | |||||
| 0 | 91 (82.7) | 112 (86.8) | 126 (88.1) | 230 (87.8) | 882 (79.7) |
| 1 | 14 (12.7) | 10 (7.8) | 10 (7.0) | 18 (6.9) | 159 (14.4) |
| 2 | 4 (3.6) | 5 (3.9) | 5 (3.5) | 12 (4.6) | 52 (4.7) |
| ≥3 | 1 (0.9) | 2 (1.6) | 2 (1.4) | 2 (0.8) | 14 (1.3) |
| Income¶,+ | |||||
| Lowest 40% | 9 (8.2) | 19 (14.7) | 19 (13.3) | 31 (11.8) | 107 (9.7) |
| 41–60% | 62 (56.4) | 69 (53.5) | 84 (58.7) | 152 (58.0) | 622 (56.2) |
| Highest 39% | 39 (35.5) | 41 (31.8) | 40 (28.0) | 79 (30.2) | 378 (34.1) |
Data are presented as n (%), median (interquartile range) or mean±sd, unless otherwise stated. LOS: length of stay; DBD: days before death. #: of the total population receiving palliative home care, n=1751 (1.1% of total population); ¶: Column percentages; +: income percentages represent the proportion of the total population's income.