In this study, we identified 854 pancreatic cancer patients who were admitted and died in-hospital between January 2003 and December 2006. Pancreatic cancer was defined using an ICD-9-CM compatible code (157) from the Registry for Catastrophic Illness Patient database, which is a separate subsection of the NHI database. Most patients who are diagnosed with cancer sign up for a Catastrophic Illness Card in Taiwan, and these cardholders are exempt from cost-sharing under the NHI program. The effects of comorbidities were estimated using the Charlson comorbidity index [14 (link)]. Propensity score matching was performed to minimize the potential influence of selection bias, whereby logistic regression was used to create a propensity score for the inpatient palliative care and acute hospital care groups [15 (link)]. The covariates that we examined included patient characteristics (age and sex), Charlson comorbidity index, hospital location, and hospital accreditation level. One-to-one matching was subsequently performed for the two patients groups, using the nearest-neighbor matching method.
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