Table 2 Demographic characteristics of medical death records with signed advance directives

Age, years

66.43 (16.17)

64.62 (14.81)

69.67 (17.91)

< 0.001*

N (%)

N (%)

N (%)

p-value^a

Gender

0.001*

 Male

1460 (62)

975 (64)

485 (57)

 Female

907 (38)

542 (36)

365 (43)

Years of education

< 0.001*

 0–6

1343 (57)

787 (58)

556 (70)

  ≥ 7

839 (35)

598 (42)

241 (30)

Marital status

0.119

 Married

2101 (90)

1358 (90)

743 (87)

 Not married

245 (10)

146 (10)

99 (12)

Religion

0.004*

 No

638 (27)

294 (19)

208 (24)

 Yes

1713 (72)

1223 (81)

644 (76)

Major caregiver

< 0.001*

 Family members

1979 (94)

1300 (86)

679 (80)

 Maids

134 (6)

93 (6)

41 (5)

 Care homes^b

94 (4)

26 (2)

66 (8)

 Friends

11 (1)

9 (1)

2 (0.2)

 Self^c

36 (2)

26 (2)

10 (1)

Patients know their poor prognosis

< 0.001*

 Yes

535 (23)

448 (30)

87 (10)

 No/not recorded

1834 (77)

1069 (71)

765 (90)

Type of cancer diagnosis

–

 Brain/CNS Lymphoma

–

22 (2)

–

 Breast cancer

–

60 (4)

–

 Cervical cancer

–

38 (3)

–

 Cholangiocarcinoma

–

27 (2)

–

 Colorectal cancer

–

152 (10)

–

 Esophageal cancer

–

66 (4)

–

 Head and neck cancer

135 (9)

 Hematological malignancies

–

88 (6)

–

 Liver cancer

–

309 (20)

–

 Lung cancer

–

271 (18)

–

 Ovarian cancer

–

27 (2)

–

 Pancreatic cancer

–

54 (4)

–

 Prostate cancer

–

36 (2)

–

 Stomach cancer

–

98 (7)

–

 Urological cancer

–

56 (4)

–

 Other cancer

–

78 (5)

–

Type of non-cancer diagnosis

–

 Cardiovascular diseases

–

–

57 (7)

 Cerebrovascular diseases

–

–

197 (23)

 Chronic liver diseases

–

–

104 (12)

 Multiple organ failure

–

–

21 (3)

 Renal diseases

–

–

69 (8)

 Respiratory diseases

–

–

181 (21)

 Rheumatic diseases

–

–

14 (2)

 Sepsis/ septic shock

–

–

144 (17)

 Other chronic diseases

–

–

65 (8)