Table 1 Patients’ characteristics and medical interventions at end of life
| Â | Â | Respiratory modality | p value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | HFNC | COT | NIV | IMV | ||
|  | n = 177 | n = 76 | n = 62 | n = 27 | n = 12 | |
Baseline characteristics | ||||||
 Age, years | 76.0 (8.3) | 75.1 (8.8) | 76.7 (7.9) | 78.0 (8.6) | 74.3 (6.6) | 0.33 |
 Sex, Male | 137 (77.4) | 63 (82.9) | 46 (74.2) | 19 (70.4) | 9 (75.0) | 0.48 |
 LTOT, yes | 92 (52.0) | 40 (52.6) | 39 (62.9) | 11 (40.7) | 2 (16.7) | 0.02 |
 Type of disease |  |  |  |  |  | 0.15 |
  IPF | 78 (44.1) | 43 (56.6) | 24 (38.7) | 10 (37.0) | 1 (8.3) |  |
  Non-IPF IIP | 58 (32.8) | 18 (23.7) | 23 (37.1) | 10 (37.0) | 7 (58.3) |  |
  CTD-IP | 36 (20.3) | 13 (17.1) | 13 (21.0) | 6 (22.2) | 4 (33.3) |  |
  CHP | 3 (1.7) | 2 (2.6) | 1 (1.6) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
  Others | 2 (1.1) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.6) | 1 (3.7) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Cause of death |  |  |  |  |  |  < 0.001 |
  Acute exacerbation | 99 (55.9) | 54 (71.1) | 18 (29.0) | 18 (66.7) | 9 (75.0) |  |
  Exacerbation of chronic respiratory failure | 49 (27.7) | 9 (11.8) | 33 (53.2) | 7 (25.9) | 0 (0.0) |  |
  Respiratory infection | 15 (8.5) | 6 (7.9) | 5 (8.1) | 2 (7.4) | 2 (16.7) |  |
  Others | 14 (7.9) | 7 (9.2) | 6 (9.7) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (8.3) |  |
End-of-life intervention | ||||||
 Place of death |  |  |  |  |  |  < 0.001 |
  General wards | 168 (94.9) | 75 (98.7) | 60 (96.8) | 25 (92.6) | 8 (66.7) |  |
  ICU | 8 (4.5) | 1 (1.3) | 1 (1.6) | 2 (7.4) | 4 (33.3) |  |
  Hospice | 1 (0.6) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.6) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Opioids, yes | 103 (58.2) | 54 (71.1) | 25 (40.3) | 14 (51.9) | 10 (83.3) | 0.001 |
 Sustained sedation, yes | 40 (22.6) | 15 (19.7) | 7 (11.3) | 8 (29.6) | 10 (83.3) |  < 0.001 |