Table 1

Description of the study population, care transitions and days in round-the-clock care*

Year of death (n)1998 (34 116)2013 (38 087)
 Age at death, mean†82.484.3**
Age (%)‡
 70–7936.427.2**
 80–8946.846.7**
 90+16.826.1**
Gender (%)‡
 Men40.843.5**
 Women59.256.5**
Diagnoses (%)*‡
 Dementia21.733.9**
 Cancer23.125.8**
 Diabetes13.816.1**
 Mental disorders7.16.4**
 Neurological10.111.6**
 Respiratory43.645.5**
 Hip fracture7.36.1**
 Stroke22.819.9**
 Ischaemic heart disease55.353.2**
 Other circulatory disease27.741.2**
Number of diagnoses, mean §2.32.6**
Number of transitions, mean (median)¶
 In last 24 months7.8 (5.0)7.9 (5.0)
 In last 6 months3.2 (2.0)3.3 (2.0)**
Days in care, mean (median)¶
 Last 24 months in total220.3 (82.0)257.4 (93.0)**
 Primary care hospital103.1 (22.0)65.0 (18.0)**
 Specialised care hospital20.2 (7.0)14.0 (4)**
 Nursing home96.6 (0) 63.5 (0)**
 Service housing with 24 hours assistancena113.2 (0)**
Days at home, mean (median)¶509.7 (648.0)472.6 (637.0)**

  • All those who died at age 70 or older in 1998 and 2013.

  • *The Causes of Death Register, The Care Register for Health Care, and The Care Register for Social Welfare.

  • †p Value refers to independent samples t-test between 1998 and 2013.

  • ‡p Value refers to χ2 test by crosstabs between 1998 and 2013.

  • §Includes the above mentioned diagnoses.

  • ¶p Value refers to Mann-Whitney U test between 1998 and 2013.

  • **p<0.001.

  • na, information not available.