Baseline characteristics
| Variable | Group 1 |
Group 2 |
P-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patient | 120 | 103 | |
| Age (y) |
68.38±10.99 | 68.34±11.54 | 0.981 |
| Sex | 0.459 | ||
| Male | 70 (58.3) | 55 (53.4) | |
| Female | 50 (41.7) | 48 (46.6) | |
| Religion | 0.993 | ||
| Buddhism | 47 (39.8) | 38 (38.8) | |
| Catholic | 9 (7.6) | 7 (7.1) | |
| Christian | 15 (12.7) | 12 (12.2) | |
| None | 47 (39.8) | 41 (41.8) | |
| Primary cancer site |
0.258 | ||
| Gastric | 12 (10.0) | 13 (12.6) | |
| Colon | 13 (10.8) | 15 (14.6) | |
| Hepatobiliary | 17 (14.2) | 8 (7.8) | |
| Pancreas | 11 (9.2) | 5 (4.9) | |
| Lung | 12 (10.0) | 15 (14.6) | |
| Genitourinary | 21 (17.5) | 25 (24.3) | |
| Breast | 9 (7.5) | 3 (2.9) | |
| Other | 25 (20.8) | 19 (18.4) | |
| Metastasis | 0.291 | ||
| Liver | 12 (14.8) | 7 (7.9) | |
| Bone | 8 (9.9) | 6 (6.7) | |
| Brain | 2 (2.5) | 2 (2.2) | |
| Lung | 11 (13.6) | 6 (6.7) | |
| Others | 12 (14.8) | 17 (19.1) | |
| Multiple | 36 (44.4) | 51 (57.3) | |
| Treatment history |
|||
| Chemotherapy | 78 (65.5) | 63 (65.4) | 0.499 |
| Radiotherapy | 31 (26.1) | 29 (28.4) | 0.692 |
| Surgery | 48 (40.3) | 49 (47.6) | 0.278 |
Data presented as number only, number (percentage) or mean±standard deviation.
Statistical comparison of two groups was performed using Independent T test (SPSS 21.0, P-value <0.05).
aGroup 1: Before the Act on decisions on life-sustaining treatment. bGroup 2: After the Act on decisions on life-sustaining treatment. cExpressed as median. dMultiple responses item.