Hospital admissions in the last 3 months of life of people who died non-suddenly
| Hospital use in the last three months of life* | BE N=1596 | NL N=633 | IT N=1827 | ES N=735 | p Value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | Per cent (95% CI) | n | Per cent (95% CI) | n | Per cent (95% CI) | N | Per cent (95% CI) | ||
| Hospitalised at least once | 887 | 56 (54 to 58) | 301 | 49 (45 to 53) | 947 | 54 (52 to 56) | 337 | 52 (48 to 56) | <0.001† |
| Hospitalised in last 7 days of life | 209 | 14 (12 to 16) | 74 | 12 (9 to 15) | 255 | 15 (13 to 17) | 114 | 18 (15 to 21) | 0.01† |
| If hospitalised at least once | |||||||||
| Hospitalised once | 735 | 83 (81 to 85) | 276 | 92 (89 to 95) | 804 | 85 (83 to 87) | 269 | 80 (76 to 84) | 0.002‡ |
| Hospitalised twice | 150 | 17 (15 to 19) | 25 | 8 (5 to 11) | 141 | 15 (13 to 17) | 67 | 20 (16 to 24) | |
| Hospitalised three times or more | 2 | 0.2 (0.0) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0) | 2 | 0.2 (0.0) | 1 | 0.3(0.0) | |
Percentages are rounded and therefore may not add up to 100.
*Missing data: number of hospitalisations (care trajectory incomplete): BE n=22 (1%), NL n=20 (3%), IT n=75 (4%), ES n=91 (n=12%); timing of final hospitalisation if patient died in hospital: n=32 (1.8%).
†p Value adjusted for country differences in age, gender, cause of death, longest place of residence in the last year of life, presence of dementia, involvement of specialist palliative care.
‡p Value for difference between countries in 1 vs 2 or more hospitalisations, adjusted for country differences in age, gender, cause of death, longest place of residence in the last year of life, presence of dementia, involvement of specialist palliative care.
BE, Belgium; ES, Spain; IT, Italy; NL, the Netherlands.