End-of-Life Care in the Last Three Months before Death in Older Patients with Cancer in Belgium: A Large Retrospective Cohort Study Using Data Linkage

This study aims to describe end-of-life (EOL) care in older patients with cancer and investigate the association between geriatric assessment (GA) results and specialized palliative care (SPC) use. Older patients with a new cancer diagnosis (2009–2015) originally included in a previous multicentric study were selected if they died before the end of follow-up (2019). At the time of cancer diagnosis, patients underwent geriatric screening with Geriatric 8 (G8) followed by GA in case of a G8 score ≤14/17. These data were linked to the cancer registry and healthcare reimbursement data for follow-u... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Victoria Depoorter
Katrijn Vanschoenbeek
Lore Decoster
Geert Silversmit
Philip R. Debruyne
Inge De Groof
Dominique Bron
Frank Cornélis
Sylvie Luce
Christian Focan
Vincent Verschaeve
Gwenaëlle Debugne
Christine Langenaeken
Heidi Van Den Bulck
Jean-Charles Goeminne
Wesley Teurfs
Guy Jerusalem
Dirk Schrijvers
Bénédicte Petit
Marika Rasschaert
Jean-Philippe Praet
Katherine Vandenborre
Harlinde De Schutter
Koen Milisen
Johan Flamaing
Cindy Kenis
Freija Verdoodt
Hans Wildiers
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2023
Reihe/Periodikum: Cancers, Vol 15, Iss 13, p 3349 (2023)
Verlag/Hrsg.: MDPI AG
Schlagwörter: geriatric oncology / population-based data / specialized palliative care / terminal healthcare utilization / Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens / RC254-282
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27391347
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15133349

This study aims to describe end-of-life (EOL) care in older patients with cancer and investigate the association between geriatric assessment (GA) results and specialized palliative care (SPC) use. Older patients with a new cancer diagnosis (2009–2015) originally included in a previous multicentric study were selected if they died before the end of follow-up (2019). At the time of cancer diagnosis, patients underwent geriatric screening with Geriatric 8 (G8) followed by GA in case of a G8 score ≤14/17. These data were linked to the cancer registry and healthcare reimbursement data for follow-up. EOL care was assessed in the last three months before death, and associations were analyzed using logistic regression. A total of 3546 deceased older patients with cancer with a median age of 79 years at diagnosis were included. Breast, colon, and lung cancer were the most common diagnoses. In the last three months of life, 76.3% were hospitalized, 49.1% had an emergency department visit, and 43.5% received SPC. In total, 55.0% died in the hospital (38.5% in a non-palliative care unit and 16.4% in a palliative care unit). In multivariable analyses, functional and cognitive impairment at cancer diagnosis was associated with less SPC. Further research on optimizing EOL healthcare utilization and broadening access to SPC is needed.