Table 2

Patient Characteristics by Functional Trajectory Before Hospice and Hospice Admission Diagnosis

CharacteristicPatients, No. (%)Age, Mean (SD), yaFemale Sex, No. (%)Non-Hispanic White, No. (%)<12 Years’ Education, No. (%)Chronic Conditions, Mean (SD), No.b
Overall213 (100)86.4 (5.8)138 (64.8)192 (90.1)79 (37.1)2.5 (1.3)
Functional trajectoryc
 Late decline23 (10.8)82.0 (6.2)12 (52.2)22 (95.7)4 (17.4)2.4 (1.3)
 Accelerated23 (10.8)83.9 (4.9)13 (56.5)22 (95.7)6 (26.1)2.5 (1.2)
 Moderate45 (21.1)83.9 (5.1)26 (57.8)38 (84.4)17 (37.8)2.6 (1.2)
 Progressively severe53 (24.9)88.7 (5.1)37 (69.8)49 (92.5)25 (47.2)2.5 (1.2)
 Persistently severe69 (32.4)88.6 (5.0)50 (72.5)61 (88.4)27 (39.1)2.4 (1.4)
Admission diagnosisd
 Cancer74 (34.7)83.6 (5.9)42 (56.7)67 (90.5)24 (32.4)2.7 (1.3)
 Neurodegenerative45 (21.1)87.7 (5.1)30 (66.7)38 (84.4)17 (37.8)2.0 (1.1)
 Cardiac34 (16.0)87.9 (5.6)19 (55.9)32 (94.1)17 (50.0)2.7 (1.2)
 Frailty/debility20 (9.4)90.9 (4.3)15 (75.0)19 (95.0)8 (40.0)2.3 (1.2)
 Other organ failure15 (7.0)87.7 (4.7)12 (80.0)15 (100)5 (33.3)2.8 (1.5)
 Vascular14 (6.6)85.0 (5.3)11 (78.6)11 (78.6)5 (35.7)2.0 (1.5)
 Respiratory11 (5.2)87.1 (3.8)9 (81.8)10 (90.9)3 (27.3)3.2 (1.3)
  • a Age was measured at the start of the trajectories.

  • b Average based on 9 physician-diagnosed, patient-reported conditions: diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, cancer, chronic lung disease, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, hip fracture, and stroke.

  • c The 95% CIs for the group membership frequencies, based on 1,000 bootstrap samples, were as follows: late decline, 5.6% to 16.0%; accelerated, 4.2% to 17.6%; moderate, 13.4% to 28.2%; progressively severe, 17.4% to 32.4%; and persistently severe, 23.9% to 42.3%.

  • d As defined in Table 1.