Twenty years of home-based palliative care in Malappuram, Kerala, India: a descriptive study of patients and their care-givers

Table 2 Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, 12-month care outcomes and palliative care support of patients registered in the Manjeri Palliative Care Unit, Kerala, India, 2013–2015

Characteristics		N	(%)
Total		551	(100)
Age	< 15 years	2	(< 1)
	15–44 years	59	(11)
	45–59 years	82	(15)
	60–79 years	233	(42)
	≥80 years	175	(32)
Sex	Male	265	(48)
	Female	280	(51)
	Missing	6	(1)
Primary diagnosis	Cancer	151	(27)
	Cardiovascular accident	123	(22)
	Dementia related	59	(11)
	Serious Mental Illness	33	(6)
	Fracture	45	(8)
	Chronic kidney disease	34	(7)
	Other	106	(19)
Secondary diagnosis	Dementia related diseases	35	(6)
	Fracture	18	(3)
	Coronary artery disease	17	(3)
	Serious Mental Illness	9	(2)
	Seizure disorder	9	(2)
	Metabolic Encephalopathy	8	(1)
	Others	8	(1)
	None	447	(81)
12-month care outcome^a	Died	309	(56)
	In active care	164	(30)
	Transferred out of care	38	(7)
	Opted out of care	40	(7)
Care-giver status	Care-giver present	530	(96)
	Care-giver not required	11	(2)
	Living alone	5	(1)
	Missing	5	(1)
Type of care-giver	Spouse	171	(31)
	Daughter in law	139	(25)
	Son/Daughter	107	(20)
	Mother/Father	32	(6)
	Hired care-giver	11	(2)
	Sister-in-law	13	(2)
	Other	73	(13)
	Missing	5	(1)
Median (IQR) number of home visits made by professional care providers 12 months after patient enrollment in the programme^b
Doctors		1	(1–2)
Nurses		5	(2–9)

^aIn active care is defined as the patient being alive and still receiving home based palliative care. Transferred out is defined as relocation to another care facility; opted out of care is defined as the patient’s decision to stop receiving care from the programme;
^bIQR Inter Quartile Range

ISSN: 1472-684X