Advance directives in patients with head and neck cancer - status quo and factors influencing their creation

BMC Palliative Care

Table 1 Patient characteristics

Variable	N (n_total = 446)	%
Gender	446	100
Female	120	26.9
Male	326	73.1
Age in years (Mean ± SD)	62.4 ± 11.9
≤ 30	6	1.3
31–45	22	4.9
46–65	243	54.5
66–75	109	24.4
> 75	66	14.8
Marital status	436	97.8
Single	55	12.3
Married	298	66.8
Permanent partnership	13	2.9
Divorced	35	7.8
Widowed	35	7.8
Educational level	243	54.5
Non-academic	195	43.7
Academic	48	10.8
Comorbidities	446
None	95	21.0
At least one comorbidity	351	79.0
Cardiovascular comorbidity	176	39.6
Pulmonal comorbidity	63	14.2
Neurological comorbidity	47	10.6
Oncological comorbidity	99	22.3
Regular medication	401	89.9
Yes	287	64.3
No	114	25.6
Living Environment	411	92.2
Independent at home	357	80.0
At home with support	49	11.0
Care facility	5	1.2
Religion	413	92.6
Protestant	182	40.8
Roman-catholic	173	38.8
Muslim	5	1.1
Other religion	27	6.5
Atheist	26	5.8
Religiosity	413	92.6
Yes	387	86.8
No	26	5.8
Cancer location	446	100
Oral cavity & oropharynx	147	33.0
Hypopharynx & larynx	116	26.0
Nose & nasopharynx	34	7.6
Salivary glands	61	13.7
Other head and neck cancer entities	72	16.1
Multi-tier carcinoma	16	3.6
Secondary malignancies^a	432	96.9
No	360	80.7
Yes, synchronous	18	4.0
Yes, metachronous	54	12.2
Recurrence of cancer	437	98.0
No	395	88.6
Loco-regional recurrence	39	8.7
Distant metastases	3	0.7
UICC stadium	385	86.3
0	6	1.3
I	132	29.6
II	67	15.0
III	61	13.7
IV	119	26.7
ECOG performance status	386	86.5
0	289	64.8
1	74	16.6
2	21	4.7
3	2	0.4
Applied therapy	446	100
Surgery	171	38.3
Primary surgery plus adjuvant therapy	71	15.9
Definitive radiochemotherapy	198	44.4
Salvage surgery	6	1.3
Time between initial diagnosis and survey period
0–12 months	113	25.3
13–60 months	178	39.9
61–120 months	92	20.6
120+ months	63	14.1

ISSN: 1472-684X