Table 1 Patient characteristics
From: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on processes, resource use and cost in palliative care
Palliative Care Unit | Palliative Care advisory team | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 (N = 55) | 2020 (N = 76) | 2019 (N = 135) | 2020 (N = 120) | |||||||||||
n | median/IQR | (%) | n | median/IQR | (%)/mean ∓ SD | p-value | n | median/ IQR | (%)/mean ∓ SD | n | median/IQR | (%) | p-value | |
Age | 55 | 73.0 / 20.0 | 76 | 69.0 / 23.5 | .492b | 135 | 71.0 / 20.0 | 120 | 71.0 / 20.0 | .797b | ||||
Sex | .673c | .279c | ||||||||||||
Male | 32 | 58.2% | 47 | 61.8% | 80 | 59.3% | 79 | 65.8% | ||||||
Female | 23 | 41.8% | 29 | 38.2% | 55 | 40.7% | 41 | 34.2% | ||||||
Main diagnosis cancer/non-cancer | .202d | .953d | ||||||||||||
Cancer | 34 | 61.8% | 55 | 72.4% | 85 | 63.0% | 75 | 62.5% | ||||||
Non-cancer | 21 | 38.2% | 21 | 27.6% | 33 | 24.4% | 31 | 62.5% | ||||||
No diagnosis documented | - | - | - | - | 17 | 12.6% | 14 | 62.5% | ||||||
Lenght of care episode (days) | 55 | 8.0 / 7.0 | 76 | 8.0 / 9.0 | .538b | 135 | 5.0 / 5.0 | 120 | 4.0 / 4.0 | .422b | ||||
IPOS at beginning of episodea | 17 | 27.0 / 12 | 30.9% | 41 | 25.0 / 10 | 54.0% | .166b | 64 | 28.5 / 33.5 | 47.4% | 48 | 25.5 / 11.5 | 40.0% | .059b |
IPOS at end of episode | 24 | 21.5 / 10.5 | 43.6% | 37 | 20.0 / 13 | .988b | 58 | 28.0 / 34.0 | 43.0% | 46 | 24.0 / 10.0 | 38.3% | .049b | |
IPOS symptom burden beginning | 34 | 14.0 / 8 | 61.8% | 57 | 10.0 / 8 | 75.0% | .008b | 90 | 13.0 / 17.0 | 66.7% | 76 | 12.0 / 9.0 | 63.3% | .167b |
IPOS symptom burden end | 41 | 12.0 / 7 | (74.6%) | 59 | 7.0 / 8 | 77.6% | .014b | 84 | 13.0 / 18.0 | 62.2% | 73 | 10.0 /8.0 | 60.8% | .025b |
IPOS psychosocial problems beginning | 22 | 13.5 / 5 | 40.0% | 45 | 12.0 / 4 | 59.2% | .559b | 71 | 14.0 / 16.0 | 52.6% | 54 | 14.0 / 4 | 45.0% | .133b |
IPOS psychosocial problems end | 27 | 10.0 / 7 | 49.1% | 44 | 11.5 / 5 | 57.9% | .440b | 68 | 14.0 / 16.0 | 50.4% | 53 | 13.0 / 3.0 | 44.2% | .048b |
Number of SPC professions involved | .986c | .798c | ||||||||||||
1 -2 professions involved | - | - | - | - | 82 | 60.7% | 71 | 59.2% | ||||||
3–4 professions involved | - | - | - | - | 53 | 39.3% | 49 | 40.8% | ||||||
1–3 professions involved | 16 | 29.1% | 22 | 28.9% | - | - | - | - | ||||||
4–7 professions involved | 39 | 70.9% | 54 | 71.0% | - | - | - | - | ||||||
Type of discharge | .700e | .484e | ||||||||||||
Palliaitve Care Unit | - | - | - | - | 35 | 25.9% | 44 | 36.7% | ||||||
Home | 6 | 10.9% | 5 | 6.6% | 38 | 28.1% | 34 | 28.3% | ||||||
Hospital (other than PCU) | 0 | 0% | 2 | 1.5% | 11 | 8.1% | 8 | 6.7% | ||||||
Nursing home | 3 | 5.5% | 2 | 2.6% | 2 | 1.5% | 2 | 1.7% | ||||||
Hospice | 4 | 7.3% | 9 | 11.8% | - | - | - | - | ||||||
Deceased | 40 | 72.7% | 55 | 72.4% | 34 | 25.2% | 22 | 18.3% | ||||||
Other | 2 | 3.6% | 3 | 3.9% | 15 | 11.1% | 10 | 8.3% | ||||||