Table 1 Characteristics of the deceased patients
|  | N = 345 |
Baseline Demographics | |
 Age at death (in years) | |
  Mean (SD) | 62.4 (10.7) |
  Median | 62.0 |
  Median age and above at death, n (%) | 180 (52.2) |
  Male, n(%) | 175 (50.7) |
 Highest education, n (%) | |
  Primary or lower | 147 (42.6) |
  Secondary | 113 (32.8) |
  Above secondary | 85 (24.6) |
 Religion, n (%) | |
  Christian | 75 (21.7) |
  Muslim | 60 (17.4) |
  Buddhist/ Taoist | 160 (46.4) |
  Hindu/ Sikh | 10 (2.9) |
  Free thinker/ No religion | 40 (11.6) |
 Type of cancer, n(%) | |
  Colorectal | 103 (29.9) |
  Respiratory | 98 (28.4) |
  Genitourinary/Gynaecologic | 62 (18.0) |
  Breast | 55 (15.9) |
  Othersa | 27 (7.8) |
Health service use in the last 2–12 months of life | |
 Length of hospital stay, mean (SD) | 10.6 (17.1) |
 Patient-reported palliative care use | 87 (25.2) |
Health status and care preferences in the last 2–12 months of life | |
 Physical health status (Range: 0–39), mean (SD) | 11.3 (8.3) |
 Functional health status (Range: 0–7), mean (SD) | 0.81 (1.80) |
 Psychological health status (Range: 0–38, mean (SD) | 9.2 (7.3) |
 End of life care preference, n (%) | |
  Minimal life extension | 114 (33.0) |
  Moderate life extension | 146 (42.3) |
  Maximal life extension | 84 (24.3) |
  Missing information | 1 (0.3) |