Indicators of potentially inappropriate end-of-life (EoL) care* stratified by timing of palliative care (PC)
| Characteristic | Early PC† | Late PC‡ | Exposure group | P value |
| N (%) | N (%) | N (%) | ||
| Overall no. of decedents | 8882 (52) | 8085 (48) | 16 967 (100) | |
| Inappropriate EoL care§ | ||||
| Yes | 1568 (18) | 1164 (14) | 2732 (16) | <0.001 |
| No | 7314 (82) | 6921 (86) | 14 235 (84) | |
| Indicators | ||||
| ≥2 emergency room visits | 583 (7) | 441 (6) | 1024 (6) | <0.05 |
| ≥2 hospital admissions | 397 (5) | 358 (4) | 755 (4) | 0.895 |
| >14 days of hospitalisation | 258 (3) | 193 (2) | 451 (3) | <0.05 |
| Chemotherapy | 268 (3) | 258 (3) | 526 (3) | 0.514 |
| ICU admission | 132 (2) | 68 (1) | 200 (1) | <0.001 |
| Hospital death | 825 (9) | 557 (7) | 1382 (8) | <0.001 |
| Mean composite score¶ | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | |
| Initiation of palliative care (mean)** | 6.8 | 2.1 | 4.5 | |
| Number of PC registrations>3 mo†† | 3 (1–6) | – | 3 (1–6) | |
| Number of PC registrations 3–1 mo†† | 4 (2–9) | 2 (1–5) | 3 (1–7) | |
| Number of PC registrations<1 mo†† | 7 (4–11) | 8 (5–12) | 8 (4–11) |
*In the last 30 days before death.
†Early PC; initiated >90 days before death.
‡Late PC; initiated ≤90 days and >30 days before death.
§Qualification is rendered positive when one out of six indicators is scored.
¶Total amount of six indicators divided by no. patients receiving potentially inappropriate EoL care.
**In months before death.
††Median and IQR.