Baseline characteristics of patients who died with heart failure, including those who received collaborative home-based palliative care and those who received usual care
| Characteristic | No. (%) of patients* | Standardized difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Usual care n = 1172 | Collaborative home-based palliative care n = 245 | ||
| Age, yr, mean ± SD | 88.1 ± 7.9 | 88.2 ± 7.9 | 0.00 |
| Sex, female | 647 (55.2) | 133 (54.3) | 0.02 |
| Living arrangement | |||
| Alone | 177 (15.1) | 38 (15.5) | 0.01 |
| With family | 295 (25.2) | 67 (27.3) | 0.07 |
| Other | 700 (59.7) | 140 (57.1) | 0.07 |
| Local Health Integration Network | |||
| Toronto Central | 628 (53.6) | 136 (55.5) | 0.04 |
| Central | 109 (44.3) | 109 (44.3) | 0.01 |
| Neighbourhood income quintile | |||
| 1–2 | 728 (62.1) | 154 (62.9) | 0.00 |
| 3–5 | 443 (37.8) | 91 (37.1) | 0.00 |
| Recent immigrant | 102 (8.7) | 19 (7.8) | 0.02 |
| Hospital frailty risk score, mean ± SD | 4.8 ± 4.8 | 4.5 ± 4.1 | 0.06 |
| Duration of heart failure, yr, median (IQR) | 4.5 (1.5–8.8) | 4.7 (1.7–9.1) | 0.00 |
| Chronic conditions | |||
| Atrial fibrillation or flutter | 761 (64.9) | 168 (68.6) | 0.06 |
| Cancer | 803 (68.5) | 164 (66.9) | 0.03 |
| Chronic kidney disease | 554 (47.3) | 136 (55.5) | 0.17 |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 340 (29.0) | 71 (29.0) | 0.00 |
| Coronary artery disease | 815 (69.5) | 176 (71.8) | 0.03 |
| Dementia | 263 (22.4) | 61 (24.9) | 0.05 |
| Diabetes | 466 (39.8) | 101 (41.2) | 0.03 |
| Hypertension | 1120 (95.6) | 234 (95.5) | 0.01 |
| Stroke | 179 (15.3) | 43 (17.6) | 0.05 |
| Cardiovascular devices† | |||
| Pacemaker | 91 (7.8) | 23 (9.4) | 0.06 |
| Implantable cardioverter defibrillator | 32 (2.7) | 11 (4.5) | 0.09 |
| Percutaneous coronary intervention | 78 (6.7) | 20 (8.2) | 0.07 |
| Previous health care use‡, median (IQR) | |||
| Cardiologist visits | 4 (1–9) | 16 (6–32) | 0.77 |
| Emergency department use§ | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–2) | 0.12 |
| Hospital admissions | 1 (0–2) | 2 (1–3) | 0.70 |
| Designated end-of-life home care service goal¶ | 8 (0.7) | 56 (22.9) | 0.73 |
Note: IQR = interquartile range, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Unless indicated otherwise.
↵† Inserted or performed within 5 years (pacemaker) or 10 years (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) before index date.
↵‡ Health care use in the 12 months before index date.
↵§ Emergency department visits not resulting in hospital admission.
↵¶ Home care clients with an end-of-life service goal receive additional services from a nurse trained in palliative care.