Palliative care provision and communication at the end of life of patients in home settings and residential homes (n = 498)a
| Home setting (n= 400) | Residential home (n= 98) | OR (95% CI)b | |
|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | n (%) | ||
| Palliative care provided by GP | 208 (53) | 56 (58) | 2.84 (1.41 to 5.07) |
| By GP with formal palliative care training | 19 (7) | 16 (24) | 6.26 (2.88 to 13.66) |
| Specialised palliative care initiatives | |||
| Any specialised palliative care | 93 (26) | 10 (12) | 0.57 (0.32 to 1.07) |
| Palliative care consultant | 28 (11) | 3 (5) | 1.47 (0.41 to 5.33) |
| Hospice | 16 (6) | 3 (5) | 1.29 (0.29 to 5.65) |
| Palliative care unit in a hospital | 3 (1) | – | – |
| In-house palliative care service in residential/care/nursing home | 15 (6) | 3 (5) | 0.695 (0.14 to 3.48) |
| Other | 24 (6) | – | – |
| Initiation of palliative care in days before death (median) | 14 | 12 | 1.005 (0.997 to 1.01) |
| GP was aware of patient’s preference | |||
| About a medical end-of-life treatment | 204 (52) | 49 (51) | 1.56 (0.85 to 2.86) |
| For place of death | 224 (56) | 53 (55) | 1.55 (0.67 to 3.61) |
| For proxy decision-maker | 113 (29) | 25 (26) | 1.27 (0.77 to 2.1) |
↵a Missing data for: palliative care received n=28, initiation of palliative care in days before death n=218, preference end-of-life treatment n=7, preference place of death n= 3, preference proxy n=7.
↵b Multivariate logistic regression controlling for age, cancer/non-cancer, dementia, and sex. Reference group is home setting.