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Table 4 Characteristics of 101 included cases, the 46 cases not included because the relative did not respond and the 52 cases where the general practitioners (GP) or the community nurse (CN) advised against sending the relative a questionnaire.

From: Associations between successful palliative cancer pathways and community nurse involvement

 

Cases in study

(N= 101)

Cases of relative-non-responders

(N = 46)

Cases where the GP or CN advised against sending the relative a questionnaire

(N = 52)

Patient's age at time of death

(mean (95% CI))

69.6 (67.3;71.9)

68.1 (64.8;71.4)

73.0 (69.9;76.2)

Patient's gender (n (%))

   

   Male

61 (60.4)

18 (39.1)*

30 (57.7)

   Female

40 (39.6)

28 (60.9)*

22 (42.3)

Primary cancer diagnosis (n (%))

   

   Bronchus/lung

16 (15.8)

10 (21.7)

8 (15.4)

   Colon/Rectum

13 (12.9)

8 (17.4)

5 (9.6)

   Breast

11 (10.9)

9 (19.6)

3 (5.8)

   Prostate

17 (16.8)

3 (6.5)

11 (21.2)

   Other

44 (43.6)

16 (34.8)

25 (48.1)

Place of death (n (%))

   

   Home

62 (61.4)

25 (54.4)

10 (19.2)*

   Nursing home

13 (12.9)

3 (6.5)

18 (34.6)*

   Hospital/Hospice

25 (24.8)

18 (39.1)

23 (44.2)*

   Other (e.g. other institution)

1 (1.0)

0 (0.0)

1 (1.9)

Relative's age at time of filling in questionnaire

 

-

-

   (mean (95% CI))

58.3 (55.4; 61.2)

  

Gender of relative (n (%))

 

-

-

   Male

28 (27.7)

  

   Female

73 (72.3)

  

Relative's relation to deceased (n (%))

 

-

-

   Spouse

63 (62.4)

  

   Girlfriend or boyfriend

1 (1.0)

  

   Daughter or son

32 (31.7)

  

   Sister or brother

1 (1.0)

  

   Parent

1 (1.0)

  

   Daughter-in-law

3 (3.0)

  

Relative lived with patient (n (%))

 

-

-

   No

23 (23.7)

  

   Yes

74 (76.3)

  

Relative's vocational education (n (%))

 

-

-

   3 years or less

62 (63.3)

  

   > 3 years

36 (36.7)

  

CN's age (mean (95% CI)

44.4 (42.7;46.2)

46.2 (43.8;48.6)

46.1 (43.9;48.4)

CN's years as CN (n (%))

   

   Five and less

36 (40.0)

16 (40.0)

12 (25.0)

   More than five

54 (60.0)

24 (60.0)

36 (75.0)

CN's extra education or courses in palliative care (n (%))

   

   No

   

   Yes

70 (82.4)

34 (85.0)

39 (86.7)

 

15 (17.6)

6 (15.0)

6 (13.3)

CN's and community services' home-visits pr day (n (%))

   

   Less than one

   

   One or more

14 (14.7)

5 (12.2)

9 (18.4)

 

81 (85.3)

36 (87.8)

40 (81.6)

CN's knowledge prior to palliative period (n (%))

   

   Poor

   

   Well

57 (60.6)

22 (51.2)

29 (56.9)

 

37 (39.4)

21 (48.8)

22 (43.1)

CN's contact with relatives (n (%))

   

   No

3 (3.1)

2 (4.7)

15 (30.6)*

   Yes

94 (96.9)

41 (95.3)

34 (69.4)*

GP involvement (n (%))

   

   No

14 (15.2)

4 (9.3)

10 (20.0)

   Yes

78 (84.8)

39 (90.7)

40 (80.0)

Specialist team involvement (n (%))

   

   No

39 (55.7)

21 (58.3)

21 (56.8)

   Yes

31 (44.3)

15 (41.7)

16 (43.2)

  1. * Statistically significantly different from the 101 cases in study with p-value < 0.05.
  2. Not all sums of percentages are added to 100.0% because of round-offs.
  3. Case data in study stem from GP, CN and relative-questionnaires and from formal health registers. Case data of relative-non-responders and of the group where the GP advised against sending the relative a questionnaire stem from GP and CN questionnaires and formal health registers.