Sex Disparities at the End-of-Life-Where do We Stand in Palliative Care? Experiences of a Specialist Palliative Care Unit in a High-Income Country.

We report on 405 men and 340 women with a median age of 70 and 71 years, respectively, hospitalized on the palliative care ward with a median length of stay of >10 days for 48.6% of men and 53.2% of women, respectively.

Most patients were admitted with cancer (78.7% of men, 77.1% of women).

Prior to hospitalization, women were significantly more likely to live alone ( P < .001) and to rely on support other than from a partner ( P < .001) or homecare ( P < .003), reflecting not only biological but also gender differences.