Table 1 Demographic characteristics of medical death records

Age, years

66.26 (16.35)

64.34 (14.87)

69.08 (17.93)

< 0.001*

N (%)

N (%)

N (%)

p-value^a

Gender

< 0.001*

 Male

1858 (62)

1151 (65)

707 (58)

 Female

1143 (38)

630 (35)

513 (42)

Years of education

< 0.001*

 0–6

1674 (56)

899 (58)

775 (70)

  ≥ 7

985 (33)

658 (42)

327 (30)

Marital status

< 0.001*

 Married

2119 (71)

1343 (75)

776 (64)

 Not married

754 (25)

360 (21)

394 (33)

Religion

0.001*

 No

637 (21)

337 (19)

300 (25)

 Yes

2371 (79)

1444 (81)

923 (75)

Major caregiver

0.001*

 Family members

2482 (86)

1531 (86)

951 (78)

 Maids

161 (6)

99 (6)

62 (5)

 Care homes^b

128 (4)

32 (2)

96 (8)

 Friends

26 (1)

10 (1)

16 (1)

 Self^c

79 (3)

39 (2)

40 (3)

Status of AD

< 0.001*

 With AD

2369 (79)

1517 (88)

852 (72)

 Without AD

537 (18)

202 (12)

335 (28)

Patients know their poor prognosis

< 0.001*

 Yes

559 (20)

469 (28)

90 (8)

 No/not recorded

2202 (80)

1212 (72)

990 (92)

Type of cancer diagnosis

–

 Brain/CNS Lymphoma

–

27 (2)

–

 Breast cancer

–

68 (4)

–

 Cervical cancer

–

43 (2)

–

 Cholangiocarcinoma

–

29 (2)

–

 Colorectal cancer

–

172 (10)

–

 Esophageal cancer

–

81 (5)

–

 Head and neck cancer

156 (9)

 Hematological malignancies

–

104 (6)

–

 Liver cancer

–

370 (21)

–

 Lung cancer

–

319 (18)

–

 Ovarian cancer

–

28 (2)

–

 Pancreatic cancer

–

63 (4)

–

 Prostate cancer

–

40 (2)

–

 Stomach cancer

–

110 (6)

–

 Urological cancer

–

62 (4)

–

 Other cancer

–

93 (5)

–

Type of non-cancer diagnosis

–

 Cardiovascular diseases

–

–

109 (9)

 Cerebrovascular diseases

–

–

252 (21)

 Chronic liver diseases

–

–

138 (11)

 Multiple organ failure

–

–

29 (2)

 Renal diseases

–

–

104 (9)

 Respiratory diseases

–

–

249 (20)

 Rheumatic diseases

–

–

21 (2)

 Sepsis/ septic shock

–

–

199 (16)

 Other chronic diseases

–

–

86 (7)