Characteristics of 500 patients with heart failure stratified by those who had palliative care involvement and those who did not have palliative care involvement
| Characteristics | Total patients n=500 | Palliative n=79 | No palliative n=421 | P values |
| Female sex (%) | 266 (53) | 40 (51) | 226 (54) | 0.63 |
| Age in years, mean (SD) | 80.7 (10.6) | 81.5 (11.6) | 80.6 (10.4) | 0.29 |
| Comorbidities (%) | ||||
| Dyslipidaemia | 303 (61) | 50 (63) | 253 (60) | 0.62 |
| Atrial fibrillation | 256 (51) | 42 (53) | 214 (51) | 0.71 |
| Diabetes | 202 (40) | 39 (49) | 163 (64) | 0.08 |
| COPD | 104 (21) | 27 (34) | 77 (18) | 0.002 |
| Medications (n=498:79:419) (%) | ||||
| Diuretic | 360 (72) | 64 (81) | 296 (71) | 0.74 |
| Beta blocker | 341 (68) | 57 (72) | 284 (68) | 0.51 |
| ACE inhibitor | 182 (36) | 21 (27) | 161 (38) | 0.06 |
| Nitrates | 74 (15) | 19 (24) | 55 (13) | 0.02 |
| Angiotensin receptor blocker | 67 (13) | 12 (15) | 55 (13) | 0.59 |
| Digoxin | 62 (12) | 16 (20) | 46 (11) | 0.04 |
| Aldosterone antagonist | 41 (8) | 15 (19) | 26 (6) | <0.001 |
| LVEF (n=315:65:250) (%) | 0.69 | |||
| >40% | 215 (68) | 45 (70) | 170 (68) | |
| 30%–40% | 52 (16) | 10 (15) | 42 (17) | |
| 20%–29% | 34 (11) | 6 (9) | 28 (11) | |
| <20% | 15 (5) | 4 (6) | 11 (4) | |
| Creatinine, mean μmol/L (SD) | 126 (91) | 152 (97) | 121 (89) | 0.009 |
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction.
Bolded values: p value <0.05.