Patient characteristics, grouped by centre types*
| Cancer centre with PCU† N=11 | Cancer centre without PCU† N=4 | Regional hospital N=9 | Hospice, nursing-home‡ N=6 | p Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | ||
| No. of patients | 666–685 (97–100) | 234–230 (98–100) | 546–534 (98–100) | 233–224 (96–100) | |
| Chemotherapy at inclusion | 272 (39.8) | 119 (50.9) | 290 (53.1) | 26 (11.3) | <0.001§ |
| Using opioids | 392 (58.2) | 136 (58.4) | 311 (57.3) | 152 (67.3) | 0.06§ |
| Breakthrough pain¶ | 252 (37.8) | 77 (33.5) | 207 (38.8) | 72 (32.0) | 0.22§ |
| PHQ9, depression** | 136 (20) | 45 (20) | 104 (19) | 54 (24) | 0.53§ |
| Survival (days) | Missing 237 n=448 | Missing 119 n=115 | Missing 278 n=268 | Missing 29 n=204 | <0.001§ |
| <30 | 58 (12.9) | 8 (7.0) | 36 (13.4) | 49 (24.0) | |
| 30–89 | 132 (29.5) | 27 (23.5) | 63 (23.5) | 77 (37.7) | |
| 90–149 | 86 (19.2) | 22 (19.1) | 48 (17.9) | 28 (13.7) | |
| 150–180 | 31 (6.9) | 13 (11.3) | 15 (5.6) | 8 (3.9) | |
| >180 | 141 (31.5) | 45 (39.1) | 106 (39.6) | 42 (20.6) | |
| Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | p Value†† | |
| Age (years) | 63.7 (12.2) | 64.8 (11.9) | 65.6 (12.0) | 73.1 (11.5) | <0.001 |
| Karnofsky score | 68.7 (15.5) | 71.6 (13.2) | 68.4 (17.0) | 55.4 (15.1) | 0.03 |
| Average pain intensity‡‡ | 3.1 (2.6) | 3.2 (2.7) | 3.2 (2.9) | 3.2 (2.7) | 0.95 |
| Worst pain intensity‡‡ | 3.9 (3.2) | 4.3 (3.5) | 3.7 (3.2) | 4.0 (3.2) | 0.84 |
| Tiredness§§ | 4.0 (2.8) | 4.5 (2.9) | 4.5 (3.1) | 5.0 (3.0) | <0.001 |
| Drowsiness§§ | 3.3 (2.8) | 2.8 (3.1) | 2.8 (2.9) | 3.3 (3.0) | 0.01 |
| Well-being§§ | 3.8 (2.5) | 3.8 (2.8) | 3.5 (2.8) | 3.7 (2.8) | 0.32 |
| Physical functioning¶¶ | 66.7 (28.2) | 72.1 (25.4) | 67.8 (27.1) | 44.3 (31.6) | <0.001 |
*Grouped according to information given on the web survey.
†PCU: palliative care unit with inpatient beds.
‡Including one hospice at home-service.
§χ2 tests for categorical variables.
¶‘Have you had flare-ups of breakthrough pain in the last 24 hours?’=yes, adapted from the ABPAT.17
**Presence of PHQ9 depression=yes, indicates a score of 2 or 3 on the 0–3 scale assessing the frequency at which people have been bothered by anhedonia (little interest or pleasure in doing things) and depressed mood during the past 2 weeks: 2=‘more than half the days’ and 3=‘nearly every day’.18
††One-way ANOVAs after correcting for multiple comparisons using Bonferroni adjustments.
‡‡BPI 0–10 scale, higher score implies higher pain intensity.15
§§ESAS-r: 0–10 scale, higher score implies higher symptom intensity/poorer well-being.19
¶¶QLQ-C15-PAL: 0–100 scale, higher score implies better functioning.20