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Table 1 Patient characteristics at baseline (N = 425)

From: Need for additional professional psychosocial and spiritual support in patients with advanced diseases in the course of specialist palliative care – a longitudinal observational study

 

Whole sample (N = 425)

O-SPC (N = 285)

I-SPC (N = 140)

 

n (%)

n (%)

n (%)

p

Age, M (SD)

69.7 (12.5)

71.4 (11.3)

66.2 (14.0)

<.001 a

Age groups

 ≤ 50

28 (6.6)

15 (5.3)

13 (9.3)

.013 b

 51–60

65 (15.3)

35 (12.3)

30 (21.4)

 

 61–70

110 (25.9)

71 (24.9)

39 (27.9)

 

 71–80

136 (32.0)

99 (34.7)

37 (26.4)

 

 ≥ 81

86 (20.2)

65 (22.8)

21 (15.0)

 

Gender

 Male

220 (51.9)

146 (51.4)

74 (52.9)

.779 b

 Female

205 (48.1)

138 (48.6)

66 (47.1)

 

Primary disease

 Gastrointestinal cancer

104 (24.5)

63 (22.1)

41 (29.3)

.209 b

 Cancer of the respiratory system

78 (18.4)

60 (21.1)

18 (12.9)

 

 Urogenital and breast cancer

136 (32.0)

90 (31.6)

46 (32.9)

 

 Other malignancies

72 (16.9)

47 (16.5)

25 (17.9)

 

 Non-malignant diseases

35 (8.2)

25 (8.8)

10 (7.1)

 

Nationality

 German

395 (95.9)

260 (94.5)

135 (98.5)

.055 b

Religious confession

 Yes

235 (57.5)

150 (54.9)

85 (62.5)

.14 b 5

Family status

 Single

80 (18.9)

46 (16.2)

34 (24.3)

.105 b

 Married, life partnership

211 (49.8)

143 (50.4)

68 (48.6)

 

 Divorced, widowed

133 (31.4)

95 (33.5)

38 (27.1)

 

Children

 Yes

302 (71.4)

205 (72.2)

97 (69.8)

.608 b

Living environment

 Living alone

135 (32.3)

90 (32.4)

45 (32.1)

.427 b

 Living alone, but family nearby

48 (11.5)

28 (10.1)

20 (14.3)

 

 Living with family

235 (56.2)

160 (57.6)

75 (53.6)

 

Education

 High school (12–13 years)

129 (31.2)

81 (29.5)

48 (34.5)

.566 b

 Junior high school (10 years)

117 (28.3)

79 (28.7)

38 (27.3)

 

 Elementary school (≤ 9 years)

168 (40.6)

115 (41.8)

53 (38.1)

 

Previous nursing situation

 No nursing

78 (19.3)

41 (15.2)

37 (27.4)

.008 b

 By relatives only

151 (37.3)

99 (36.7)

52 (38.5)

 

 Nursing service only

116 (28.6)

88 (32.6)

28 (20.7)

 

 Nursing service and relatives

60 (14.8)

42 (15.6)

18 (13.3)

 
  1. Significant group differences are marked in bold
  2. Abbreviations: O-SPC outpatient specialist palliative care, I-SPC inpatient specialist palliative care, pts patients
  3. a T-test (two-tailed), b Chi2-Test