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Table 1 Country, hospital, ICU and patient characteristics across subgroups

From: Outcomes of ICU patients with and without perceptions of excessive care: a comparison between cancer and non-cancer patients

 

Uncontrolled cancer (n = 117)

Controlled cancer (n = 270)

Without cancer (n = 1254)

P-value

Country characteristics

 Number of ICU beds/100.000 inhabitants

13.8 (11.6–15.9)

11.6 (6.4–15.9)

11.6 (6.4–15.9)

0.001

 Geographical region

 < 0.001

  Central Europe

15 (12.8%)

40 (14.8%)

147 (11.7%)

  Northern Europe

7 (6.0%)

27 (10.0%)

257 (20.5%)

  Southern Europe

7 (6.0%)

32 (11.9%)

98 (7.8%)

  Western Europe/USA

88 (75.2%)

171 (63.3%)

752 (60.0%)

Hospital characteristics

 Hospital type

0.002

  Public

20 (17.1%)

47 (17.4%)

318 (25.4%)

  Private

10 (8.5%)

7 (2.6%)

77 (6.1%)

  University-affiliated

28 (23.9%)

43 (15.9%)

178 (14.2%)

  University

59 (50.4%)

173 (64.1%)

681 (54.3%)

 Total beds in hospital

 < 0.001

  < 250

20 (17.1%)

17 (6.3%)

85 (6.8%)

  250–499

33 (28.2%)

58 (21.5%)

271 (21.6%)

  500–749

15 (12.8%)

70 (25.9%)

336 (26.8%)

  > 750

49 (41.9%)

125 (46.3%)

562 (44.8%)

ICU characteristics

 Ethical climate

0.13

  Good

26 (22.2%)

54 (20.0%)

241 (19.2%)

  Average + 

48 (41.0%)

97 (35.9%)

552 (44.0%)

  Poor

43 (36.8%)

119 (44.1%)

461 (36.8%)

 Number of beds per ICU

12 (8–22)

12.5 (10–25)

14 (10–24)

0.02

 Patient-to-nurse ratio

2 (2–2)

2 (1.4–3)

2 (1.3–3)

0.04

 Patient-to-junior physician ratio

5 (3–7)

4 (3–6)

4 (3–6)

0.09

 Patient-to-senior physician ratio

7 (6–8)

7 (5–8)

7 (4–8)

0.08

 Percentage of population > 65 year in ICUa

18 (18–18)

18 (18–18)

18 (18–18)

 < 0.001

Patient characteristics

 Age

66 (58–73)

67 (57–75)

63 (50–74)

0.002

 Gender

63 (53.8)%

171 (63.3)%

736 (58.7)%

0.18

 ECOG performance status

 < 0.001

  Grade 0

20 (17.1%)

78 (28.9%)

475 (37.9%)

  Grade 1

30 (25.6%)

89 (33.0%)

285 (22.7%)

  Grade 2

26 (22.2%)

45 (16.7%)

169 (13.5%)

  Grade 3

21 (17.9%)

27 (10.0%)

156 (12.4%)

  Grade 4

9 (7.7%)

16 (5.9%)

57 (4.5%)

  Unknown

11 (9.4%)

15 (5.6%)

112 (8.9%)

  Nursing home resident

3 (2.6%)

6 (2.2%)

69 (5.5%)

0.03

 Moderate-to-severe comorbidities

 < 0.001

  0

0 (0.0%)

0 (0.0%)

790 (63.0%)

  1

90 (76.9%)

197 (73.0%)

379 (30.2%)

  ≥ 2

27 (23.1%)

73 (23.0%)

85 (6.8%)

 Type comorbidity

  Heart failure (NYHA III or IV)

5 (4.3%)

21 (7.8%)

166 (13.2%)

 < 0.001

  COPD (Gold III or IV or equivalent)

12 (10.3%)

35 (13.0%)

143 (11.4%)

0.69

  Neurological (excluding dementia)

7 (6.0%)

7 (2.6%)

89 (7.1%)

0.02

  Liver cirrhosis (Child–Pugh B or C)

0 (0.0%)

10 (3.7%)

72 (5.7%)

 < 0.001

  Chronic renal failure requiring dialysis

4 (3.4%)

4 (1.5%)

46 (3.7%)

0.16

  Dementia (moderate or severe)

1 (0.9%)

6 (2.2%)

32 (2.6%)

0.67

  AIDS

0 (0.0%)

1 (0.4%)

13 (1.0%)

 < 0.001

 Abuse

  Alcohol

1 (0.9%)

14 (5.2%)

166 (13.2%)

 < 0.001

  Smoking

10 (8.5%)

39 (14.4%)

241 (19.2%)

0.005

 Main admission reason

  Respiratory failure

36 (30.8%)

65 (24.1%)

289 (23.0%)

0.17

  Sepsis/severe sepsis/septic shock

34 (29.1%)

67 (24.8%)

222 (17.7%)

 < 0.001

  Heart failure/cardiogenic shock

11 (9.4%)

24 (8.9%)

244 (19.5%)

 < 0.001

  Neurologic pathology/stroke/ICB

8 (6.8%)

17 (6.3%)

157 (12.5%)

0.002

  Gastro-intestinal pathology/liver failure

10 (8.5%)

26 (9.6%)

133 (10.6%)

0.72

  Metabolic/renal

14 (12.0%)

22 (8.1%)

108 (8.6%)

0.44

  Multiple trauma

0 (0.0%)

4 (1.5%)

92 (7.3%)

 < 0.001

  Head trauma

1 (0.9%)

2 (0.7%)

55 (4.4%)

0.003

  Surgery within 48 h

38 (32.5%)

122 (45.2%)

100 (31.9%)

 < 0.001

 Surgery

 < 0.001

  No surgery

79 (67.5%)

141 (52.2%)

850 (67.8%)

  Scheduled surgery

19 (16.2%)

77 (28.5%)

111 (8.9%)

  Unscheduled surgery

19 (16.2%)

52 (19.3%)

293 (23.4%)

 Do-not-resuscitate order before ICU admission

 < 0.001

  Full code

87 (74.4%)

224 (90.4%)

1132 (90.3%)

  Unknown

8 (6.8%)

10 (3.7%)

57 (4.5%)

  No CPR

14 (12.0%)

13 (4.8%)

34 (2.7%)

  Withholding therapy

8 (6.8%)

3 (1.1%)

31 (2.5%)

 Severity of illness < 24 h after admission

  Invasive mechanical ventilation

42 (35.9%)

126 (46.7%)

616 (49.1%)

0.02

  Vasopressor need

34 (29.1%)

106 (39.3%)

443 (35.3%)

0.15

  Dialysis

3 (2.6%)

5 (1.9%)

47 (3.7%)

0.31

  Written withholding/withdrawing order < 24 h

11 (9.4%)

6 (2.2%)

50 (4.0%)

0.008

 Characteristics during ICU stay

  Non-missing patients

n = 93

n = 253

n = 1165

0.20

  Invasive mechanical ventilation

46 (49.5%)

143 (56.5%)

684 (58.7%)

  Duration of invasive ventilation

3 (1–7)

2 (1–6)

2 (1–6)

0.36

  Vasopressor need

42 (45.2%)

130 (51.4%)

544 (46.7%)

  Duration of vasopressors

3 (1–5)

2 (1–4)

2 (1–4)

0.67

  Dialysis

5 (5.4%)

21 (8.3%)

97 (8.3%)

  Duration of dialysis

3 (3–10)

5 (3–8)

3 (1–7)

0.26

  Length of ICU stay

3.6 (1.6–7.7)

3.8 (1.9–8.0)

3.2 (1.6–7.9)

  1. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant
  2. a. Variable considered as categorical because of the limited number of unique values