Indicators for early assessment of palliative care in lung cancer patients: a population study using linked health data

Table 4 Post diagnosis characteristics; treatment, place of death and cause of death

	Survival category
	0–30 days n = 2595	> 30 days n = 11,250	All n = 13,845	Tests of association
Tumour directed treatment^a
None	2169 (84)	3183 (28)	5352 (39)	χ² = 2718.36, df(1), p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.443
Any	426 (16)	8067 (72)	8493 (61)	χ² = 2718.36, df(1), p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.443
Diagnosis episode discharge code^b
Death	1243 (57)	237 (3)	1480 (14)	χ² = 4345.6 df(1), p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.633
Other	940 (43)	8422 (97)	9362 (86)	χ² = 4345.6 df(1), p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.633
Place of death
Hospital	1949 (75)	4850 (43)	6799 (49)	χ² = 876.52, df(5), p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.252
Home	338 (13)	3200 (28)	3538 (26)
Hospice	185 (7)	2084 (19)	2269 (16)
Nursing Home	65 (3)	688 (6)	753 (5)
Unknown	34 (1)	339 (3)	373 (3)
No death certificate	24 (1)	89 (1)	113 (1)
Cause of death
Lung cancer	2320 (89)	10,081 (90)	12,401 (90)	χ² = 0.096, df(1), p = 0.757, Cramer’s V = 0.003
Other	275 (11)	1169 (10)	1444 (10)	χ² = 0.096, df(1), p = 0.757, Cramer’s V = 0.003

^a Refers to tumour directed treatment received within 1 year of diagnosis
^b The diagnosis episode was the episode where the lung cancer diagnosis was made or the first episode occurring in the interval from 7 days before to 14 days after the lung cancer diagnosis. Episodes outside this interval were excluded from the analysis, n = 1591. There was no matching HIPE data for n = 1412 decedents. The denominator data is n = 2183 for short term survivors and n = 8659 for longer term survivors

ISSN: 1472-684X