Factors influencing length of survival in ambulatory palliative care - a cross sectional study based on secondary data

Table 1 Characteristics of the study population divided by cancer and non-cancer disease

Variable	Total (n = 6828)		Cancer^a (n = 5140)		Non-cancer^a (n = 1665)
Gender	n	%	n	%	n	%
Male	3337	48.9	2632	51.3	696	41.9
Female	3482	51.0	2502	48.7	966	58.1
Missing	9	0.1	6		3
Age, years
<65	1409	20.6	1257	24.5	148	8.9
65–74	1416	20.7	1203	23.4	208	12.5
75–84	2349	34.4	1820	35.4	522	31.4
≥ 85	1654	24.2	860	16.7	787	47.3
Karnofsky score
10–30	2124	31.1	1242	42.1	879	82.8
40–100	1892	27.7	1708	57.9	182	17.2
Missing	2812	41.2	2190		604
Pain
No	1155	16.9	883	22.2	267	21.8
Mild	1723	25.2	1339	33.6	382	31.2
Moderate/severe	2341	34.3	1758	44.2	575	47.0
Missing	1609	23.6	1160		441
Dyspnea
No	1812	26.5	1374	32.6	431	33.2
Mild	1821	26.7	1473	34.9	347	26.7
Moderate/severe	1895	27.8	1372	32.5	520	40.1
Missing	1300	19.0	921		367
Confusion
No	2672	39.1	2356	59.9	313	24.8
Mild	1040	15.2	812	20.7	226	17.9
Moderate/severe	1489	21.8	763	19.4	721	57.2
Missing	1627	23.8	1209		405
Loss of appetite
No	670	9.8	517	11.6	152	11.3
Mild	1002	14.7	826	18.5	175	13.0
Moderate/severe	4146	60.7	3113	69.9	1021	75.7
Missing	1010	14.8	684		317
Weakness
No	48	0.7	43	0.9	5	0.4
Mild	566	8.3	511	11.2	54	3.9
Moderate/severe	5368	78.6	4017	87.9	1334	95.8
Missing	846	12.4	569		272
Emesis
No	4033	59.1	2986	77.4	1040	87.5
Mild	595	8.7	506	13.1	89	7.5
Moderate/severe	427	6.3	368	9.5	59	5.0
Missing	1773	26.0	1280		477
Nausea
No	3097	45.4	2181	53.4	911	75.6
Mild	1301	19.1	1108	27.1	191	15.9
Moderate/severe	899	13.2	796	19.5	103	8.5
Missing	1531	22.4	1055		460

^aRelative frequencies refer to non-missing cases only. There were n = 23 patients with missing data on diagnoses (0.3 %)

ISSN: 1472-684X