ACS rsearchers revealed that near half of sufferers with superior most cancers acquired doubtlessly aggressive care on the end-of-life on the expense of supportive care. Credit score: American Most cancers Society
Regardless of appreciable efforts to enhance the standard of end-of-life care in the US, a brand new retrospective examine led by American Most cancers Society (ACS) researchers revealed that near half of sufferers with superior most cancers acquired doubtlessly aggressive care on the end-of-life on the expense of supportive care.
The findings are printed within the JAMA Well being Discussion board.
“Even though clinicians and professional health care organizations have recommended early integration of supportive and palliative care for all patients with advanced cancers, it remains underused,” mentioned Dr. Robin Yabroff, scientific vp of well being companies analysis on the American Most cancers Society and senior creator of the examine.
“High-quality patient-centered end-of-life care is especially important for maximizing the remaining quality of life for this population, yet uptake of advanced care planning and palliative care was low and late hospice enrollment was common.”
Researchers analyzed data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Finish Outcomes (SEER) program linked with Medicare knowledge to characterize patterns of end-of-life care.
The examine included 33,744 sufferers aged 66 or older with fee-for-service Medicare medical health insurance protection who have been initially identified with distant-stage breast, prostate, pancreatic, or lung cancers and died between 2014 and 2019. Month-to-month utilization of acute care, systemic remedy, and supportive care (i.e., palliative and hospice care and superior care planning) have been examined within the final six months of life.
Moreover, a claims-based indicator was used to look at doubtlessly aggressive care within the final 30 days of life, outlined as experiencing a couple of acute care go to, in-hospital mortality, late receipt of systemic remedy, or hospice entry.
Examine outcomes confirmed solely one-quarter of sufferers identified with superior most cancers acquired any palliative care within the final six months of life, and those that acquired it did so primarily within the month of demise. Total, 45% of decedents skilled any indicator of probably aggressive care.
There was a rise within the imply variety of acute care visits (from 14.0 to 46.2 per 100 person-months), hospice use (from 6.6 to 73.9 per 100 person-months), palliative care (from 2.6 to 26.1 per 100 person-months), and superior care planning (from 1.7 to 12.8 per 100 person-months) over the past six months of life.
“This research highlights the need for interventions to improve quality of care for patients with advanced cancers, especially those helping to remove barriers to better access palliative care,” Yabroff added.
“It also suggests the importance of clear, proactive communication between providers and patients and their families regarding advanced care planning to better guide end-of-life care efforts.”
Extra data:
Youngmin Kwon et al, Up to date Patterns of Finish-of-Life Care Amongst Medicare Beneficiaries With Superior Most cancers, JAMA Well being Discussion board (2025). DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2024.5436
Supplied by
American Most cancers Society
Quotation:
Analysis finds low uptake of supportive care on the end-of-life for sufferers with superior most cancers (2025, February 21)
retrieved 22 February 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-02-uptake-life-patients-advanced-cancer.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any truthful dealing for the aim of personal examine or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for data functions solely.
