Credit score: Pixabay/CC0 Public Area
Sufferers who obtain systemic anti-cancer remedy close to finish of life usually tend to be hospitalized, go to the intensive care unit or emergency division, and are much less prone to make the most of hospice care within the remaining 30 days of life, based on researchers at The College of Texas MD Anderson Most cancers Heart.
This sample of care was noticed in sufferers who obtained all sorts of systemic anticancer remedy, together with cytotoxic chemotherapy, immunotherapy and focused therapies. The findings have been printed within the Journal of Scientific Oncology.
“Nationwide, the overuse of systemic anti-cancer therapy at the end of life remains a persistent problem,” stated corresponding writer Kerin Adelson, M.D., chief high quality and worth officer at MD Anderson.
“This study shows that such aggressive care causes real harm to patients in their final days as well as their families, often leading to medicalized deaths marked by unnecessary hospitalizations, ICU stays, emergency visits, and dying in unfamiliar settings away from home and loved ones.”
The usage of most cancers remedy at finish of life is related to decrease high quality of life.
Researchers analyzed Nationwide Most cancers Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and Finish Outcomes (SEER) Medicare knowledge from over 315,000 adults aged 66 and up with varied cancers who died between 2015 and 2020.
They discovered that sufferers who obtained systemic most cancers remedy within the final 30 days of life have been 3 times extra prone to go to the emergency room, 2.6 instances extra prone to be hospitalized and 1.8 instances extra prone to find yourself within the intensive care unit. As well as, these sufferers have been twice as prone to die within the hospital, and plenty of didn’t make the most of hospice care.
In keeping with Adelson, this knowledge can result in essential coverage concerns and assist steer knowledgeable choices for care tips and efforts to cut back extreme remedy use close to the top of life. MD Anderson has made vital progress in decreasing the overutilization of chemotherapy for this affected person inhabitants by means of structural and apply modifications.
A key component of this work is partnering with sufferers and their households to have essential conversations relating to prognosis and needs for end-of-life care, Adelson defined.
Extra data:
Maureen E. Canavan et al, Affiliation Between Systemic Anticancer Remedy Administration Close to the Finish of Life With Well being Care and Hospice Utilization in Older Adults: A SEER Medicare Evaluation of Finish-of-Life Care High quality, Journal of Scientific Oncology (2025). DOI: 10.1200/jco-25-00530
Offered by
College of Texas M. D. Anderson Most cancers Heart
Quotation:
Sufferers receiving anti-cancer remedy close to finish of life expertise larger charges of hospitalization, much less hospice care (2025, September 29)
retrieved 29 September 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-09-patients-anti-cancer-treatment-life.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 supplied for data functions solely.
