Sociodemographic characteristics by primary cancer diagnosis of patients dying in a palliative care unit: A retrospective analysis

Background: To identify the resources that could improve the care of patients with advanced disease, the present study describes the sociodemographic characteristics of advanced cancer patients dying in a palliative care unit. Method: We performed a retrospective study of oncology patients who died in a palliative care unit from January 2006 to December 2009. A descriptive analysis was conducted to compare the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of advanced cancer patients, using measures of central tendency and frequencies. Results: Of the total number of oncology patients, 443 died in the palliative care unit. The most frequent primary cancer site was the lung (20.5%), followed by the liver-pancreas (17.2%), and genitourinary apparatus (16.5%). The primary cancer diagnosis was significantly related to gender (χ 2=55.97, p<0.00). The primary cancer diagnosis in younger patients was respiratory tumor. When gender was considered, men with a cancer diagnosis were significantly younger than women (Z=-2.19, p=0.028). No significant differences in the length of admission were identified on comparing means according to the primary cancer diagnosis (χ 2=9.77, p=0.36), gender (Z=-0.3, p=0.76) or age groups (χ 2=5.29, p=0.15). Conclusions: Among patients with advanced cancer who died in the palliative care unit, significant demographic variables were gender and age. © 2011 Academia de Ciencias Médicas de Bilbao.