Patient characteristics | People aged 65–84 years (n=1126) | P value* | People aged 85 years and older (n=1203) | P value* | ||||
Belgium (n=718) | Italy (n=254) | Spain (n=154) | Belgium (n=690) | Italy (n=342) | Spain (n=171) | |||
n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |||
Mean age at death (SD) | 76.7 (5.7) | 77.7 (5.3) | 77.3 (5.5) | 0.080 | 90.1 (4.2) | 90.5 (4.0) | 90.7 (4.3) | 0.140 |
Gender, female | 337 (47.1) | 123 (49.2) | 55 (35.7) | 0.020 | 462 (67.2) | 230 (68.0) | 103 (60.2) | 0.320 |
Dementia diagnosis | ||||||||
None | 467 (69.5) | 182 (72.2) | 130 (86.1) | 0.003 | 328 (50.2) | 164 (48.8) | 87 (52.1) | 0.799 |
Mild | 83 (12.4) | 35 (13.9) | 13 (8.6) | 136 (20.8) | 79 (23.5) | 39 (23.4) | ||
Severe | 122 (18.2) | 35 (13.9) | 8 (5.3) | 190 (29.1) | 93 (27.7) | 41 (24.6) | ||
Longest place of residence in the last year of life | ||||||||
At home | 515 (77.3) | 231 (92.0) | 136 (92.5) | 0.000 | 290 (45.0) | 300 (88.2) | 129 (75.9) | 0.000 |
Care home† | 151 (22.7) | 20 (8.0) | 11 (7.5) | 354 (55.0) | 40 (11.8) | 41 (24.1) | ||
Main cause of death | ||||||||
Cancer | 348 (51.4) | 121 (50.2) | 104 (68.0) | 0.015 | 160 (24.4) | 53 (15.6) | 39 (22.8) | 0.014 |
Cardiovascular disease | 89 (13.1) | 40 (16.6) | 14 (9.2) | 172 (26.2) | 126 (37.1) | 45 (26.3) | ||
Nervous system disease | 75 (11.1) | 21 (8.7) | 7 (4.6) | 75 (11.4) | 32 (9.4) | 21 (12.3) | ||
Respiratory disease | 54 (8.0) | 26 (10.8) | 6 (3.9) | 72 (11.0) | 43 (12.6) | 9 (5.3) | ||
Stroke (CVA) | 39 (5.8) | 12 (5.0) | 3 (2.0) | 61 (9.3) | 34 (10.0) | 18 (10.5) | ||
Other | 72 (10.6) | 21 (8.7) | 19 (12.4) | 116 (17.7) | 52 (15.3) | 39 (22.8) |
People aged 65–84 years: Missing data, n (%): gender, 6 (0.5), dementia diagnosis, 51 (4.5), longest place of residence in the last year of life, 62 (5.5), main cause of death, 55 (4.9).
People aged 85 years and older: Missing data, n (%): gender, 7 (0.6), dementia diagnosis, 46 (3.8), longest place of residence in the last year of life, 49 (4.1), main cause of death, 36 (3.0).
*Tested for differences between countries using generalised linear mixed models to account for clustering at general practitioner level.
†Includes care/nursing homes, ‘elswhere’ not included in the analysis.
CVA, cerebrovascular accident; SD, standard deviation .