Patients with incurable cancer deserve quality end-of-life (EOL) care. Despite established EOL quality metrics, many patients receive aggressive EOL care with limited goals of care (GOC) documentation. Concurrently, clinical trials are critical for advancing cancer care. We aim to identify associations between trial enrollment in the last year of life (YOL) and EOL quality metrics for adults with cancer to identify opportunities to advance goal-concordant care.

This is a retrospective review of adult patients with cancer at a single academic institution who died between January 2018 and October 2022. Outcomes included: initiation of a new anticancer therapy, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, hospitalization, or emergency department (ED) encounter in the last 30 days of life (DOL), reception of anti-cancer treatment in the last 14 DOL, referral to hospice, referral to palliative care, and GOC documentation.

Among 9817 patients, 577 (5.9%) enrolled in clinical trials in the last YOL. Patients enrolled in trials were more likely to initiate new anticancer treatments in the last 30 DOL (p = < 0.001), less likely to have a palliative care referral (p = < 0.001) or GOC documentation (p = < 0.001), but were less likely to have an ED encounter in the last 30 DOL (p = 0.04) or die in an acute care setting (p = 0.015).

Enrollment in clinical trials in the last YOL was associated with metrics of aggressive EOL care, with low rates of GOC documentation to determine if this care is goal-concordant. Low rates of palliative care and hospice engagement across the study population suggest opportunities for improvement for all patients, regardless of trial enrollment.

This scoping review aims to deepen the understanding of end-of-life anticancer drug use in lung cancer patients, a disease marked by high mortality and symptom burden. Insight into unique end-of-life treatment patterns is crucial for improving the appropriateness of cancer care for these patients.

Comprehensive searches were carried out in Medline and Embase to find articles on the utilization of anticancer drugs in the end of life of lung cancer patients.

We identified 68 publications, highlighting the methodological characteristics of studies including the timing of the research, disease condition, treatment regimen, type of treatment, and features of the treatment. We outlined the frequency of anticancer drug use throughout different end-of-life periods.

This review provides a comprehensive overview of primary studies exploring end-of-life treatments in lung cancer patients. Methodological inconsistencies pose many challenges, revealing a notable proportion of patients experiencing potential overtreatment, warranting more standardized research methods for robust evaluations.

PurposeTo assess the End of life care (EOLC ) practices and the magnitude of futile care in a tertiary cancer center. To find out the barriers in provision of good EOLC in cancer patients.MethodsAn observational study was done on 129 patients. Patients were enrolled using the palliative prognostic index (PPI) in the end of life stages. Socio-demographic and clinical details were recorded. Detailed counselling done by the palliative physician or the oncologist was recorded. The barriers in provision of care were recorded.ResultsIn this study initial experience of 129 patients were analyzed. PPI score was >6 (survival shorter than 3 weeks) in 85 (65.89%) ; 34 (26.36%) had PPI score between >4 to 6 (survival between 3 to 6 weeks); and 10 (7.75%) patients had PPI score less than equal to 4( survival more than 6 weeks).77 (59.69%) patients preferred home as their place for EOLC while 41(31.78%) preferred hospital, 7 (5.43%) preferred hospice while 4 (3.10%) opted ICU for their EOLC . The most common barrier associated was caregiver related in 34 case, followed by physician related in 14 cases and patients related in 3 cases, because of hope of being cured in hospital, social stigma, fear of worsening of symptoms at home, denial.ConclusionEOLC is the least studied part of patient care with various barriers. With proper communication and a good palliative care support, futile treatment can be avoided. With healthy communication we can empower family members and patients for a good EOLC.

Despite well-recognized challenges in implementing palliative radiation therapy (PRT), progress remains slow, and conventional approaches have yielded limited success. A transformative strategy is required to overcome systemic barriers and establish a sustainable PRT infrastructure. This proposal presents a novel model to improve accessibility, affordability, and integration into palliative care by addressing key obstacles in training, regulation, facility development, and treatment protocols. A specialized certification track within radiation oncology residency programs is proposed, enabling palliative care physicians to obtain limited PRT licenses under the supervision of fully licensed radiation oncologists. Regulatory adjustments should facilitate this framework, ensuring compliance while expanding the PRT workforce. Dedicated PRT facilities-affiliated with comprehensive radiation therapy centers (CRTCs) and integrated into hospice settings-will enhance accessibility by reducing logistical and financial burdens. These facilities will utilize cost-effective infrastructure, including refurbished linear accelerators, modular construction, and remote physics and dosimetry support, ensuring operational costs remain significantly lower than those of conventional radiotherapy centers. Optimizing PRT delivery requires shifting clinical strategies toward single-fraction treatment as the primary approach, followed by hypofractionation treatment when necessary. Systematic studies with a PRT-oriented mindset should establish PRT-specific treatment recommendations and recommendations, moving away from conventional radiation therapy protocols. By addressing key barriers in education, regulation, infrastructure, and clinical strategy, this model offers a path toward sustainable PRT implementation. While requiring initial investment and regulatory adjustments, it has the potential to improve end-of-life care for terminally ill cancer patients, ensuring greater dignity and comfort while establishing a robust foundation for future reimbursement models.

Prognostic disclosure enables shared decision-making by keeping patients informed about their health and involved in treatment-related choices. In metastatic cancer, patients who understand their prognosis are better placed to evaluate their health situation, have more realistic expectations about treatment, and better end-of-life (EoL) care. However, many oncologists feel uncomfortable discussing prognoses with their patients, as they worry about causing psychological distress and diminishing hope. Other barriers to prognostic disclosure are associated with the inherent uncertainty of prognostication, which is especially prominent in metastatic breast cancer (mBC), as are a lack of timely discussions about EoL care and poor quality of care at EoL. Despite this background, a preliminary literature search has shown that, to date, knowledge about prognostic disclosure in mBC has not been systematically mapped.

The overall aim of this scoping review will be to comprehensively explore the existing literature pertaining to prognostic disclosure in mBC.

This scoping review will follow Arksey and O'Malley's expanded framework. We will systematically search electronic databases for peer-reviewed, published journal articles to identify appropriate studies. First, 2 members of the research team will independently review titles and abstracts. Then, they will review full texts to establish whether articles meet inclusion criteria. A data chart for collecting and sorting information will be developed. Results will be reported following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines and summarized quantitatively and qualitatively.

We expect to present the results in a scoping review in 2025.

To our knowledge, this scoping review will be the first systematic effort aimed at mapping existing literature on prognostic disclosure in mBC, in which rapidly developing therapeutic approaches and changing disease trajectories generate new uncertainties and place new communicative demands on oncologists. The insights gained from this scoping review will inform the development of an interview schedule with oncologists, oncology residents, oncology nurses, and patients with mBC to explore their experiences, views, and perceptions about prognostic disclosure.

PRR1-10.2196/57256.

Factors reducing aggressive care at the end of life (EOL) for soft tissue sarcoma (STS) are unknown. We aim to evaluate the association between outpatient palliative care (PC) interventions and aggressive care at EOL for STS patients.

All deceased STS patients in our center were included retrospectively over two years. The exposure was outpatient PC, while outcomes included anticancer therapy administration, emergency room visits, intensive care unit stays, hospital and hospice admissions at EOL.

Among the 83 patients with STS included, most patients were female (58%), with median age [SD] of 65 [15] years, and had a locally advanced/metastatic disease (n = 55, 66%) encompassing leiomyosarcoma (n = 20, 24%) and liposarcoma (n = 17, 21%). Median PC follow-up was 3.5 months (IQR, 1.3-7.6 months). Median aggressive care [range] was 1 [0-4] criteria. Timing and occurrence of outpatient PC interventions were not correlated with EOL care aggressiveness. Univariate analysis showed that outpatient PC interventions were associated with lower rates of anticancer drug use (p = 0.001 and p = 0.02 for the last 30 and 15 days of life, respectively), emergency room visits (p = 0.003), and hospital admissions (p = 0.002) in EOL. In multivariable models, outpatient PC was associated with all aggressive care criteria, excluding admission to hospice. Day hospital was the only independent predictor significantly associated with reduced occurrence of aggressive care (p = 0.002), particularly hospital admissions (p = 0.004).

Outpatient PC, especially day hospitals, could reduce aggressive care at EOL among STS patients. Large-scale studies are needed.

Background and Objectives: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have less toxicity than standard chemotherapy and are now standard of care for many patients with advanced cancer. A manageable side effect profile and potential for durable responses may lead to aggressive care of the palliative patient. We sought to evaluate palliative care input and ICI use at the end of life at two Irish cancer centres. Methods: We identified deceased patients who received at least one dose of an ICI between first of January 2013 to 31st of December 2018. A retrospective electronic chart review was performed. Results: The electronic records of 102 patients were analysed. Fifty eight percent were male and the median age of diagnosis of advanced disease was 60 years (range 17-78). Median time from last dose of ICI to death was 57 days (range 8-574) and 20% of patients died within 30 days of last dose of ICI. Most patients, 92%, were referred to palliative care. The median time from palliative care referral to death was 64 days (range 1- 1010). In the last 30 days of life, 39% of patients attended the emergency department (ED) and 46% had at least one hospital admission. Late palliative care referrals, ≤3 months before death, were associated with hospitalisations in the last month of life (64% vs. 36%, P = .02). Timing of palliative care referral did not affect ICI prescribing at the end of life (P = 0.38). ICI use in the last 30 days of life was not associated with increased ED presentations or hospitalisations at the end of life. Patients who received ICI in the last month had a higher likelihood of in-hospital death (43% vs. 16%, P = 0.02). Conclusions: ICI within 30 days of death was associated with dying in hospital but did not lead to more hospitalisations and emergency department presentations. Early palliative care did not affect ICI use but reduced hospitalisations at the end of life.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how organizational factors influence the ethical and economic problems of overtreatment of cancer patients.

The study applies a sequential mixed-method approach. First, our logistic regression model assesses how patient characteristics and hospital department variables influence the use of late cancer treatment (LCT), primarily chemotherapy, in stage IV non-small cell lung cancer cases using Danish registry data. Department-specific variations in LCT use across hospitals are identified, while controlling for population differences. Then, using qualitative data, we explore organizational factors that may influence hospitals' decisions regarding LCT for lung cancer patients.

Between 13% and 33.3% of the studied lung cancer population receive LCT within their last 30 days of life. Variation in LCT can in part be explained by organizational factors specific to the hospital departments and their organization of their treatment decision-making process.

This article is among the first to show how organizational solutions can contribute to curbing overtreatment. Hospital managers can seek to reduce overtreatment by (a) adjusting the format and frequency of patient consultations, (b) improving the cross-disciplinary collaboration structures, and (c) utilizing team conferences for discussions of treatment cessation.

Patients with haematological malignancies (HM) experience high-intensity medical care near the end of life (EOL), have low rates of hospice and palliative care (PC) use and are more likely to die in the hospital. We compared the quality indicators for EOL care in patients followed by a haematologist with or without PC.

This observational, retrospective study evaluated a cohort of 196 consecutive patients with HM. We used a mean composite score for the aggressiveness of EOL. The quality indicators evaluated were chemotherapy, place of death, transfusions and hospital use in the last month of life.

Eighty patients were offered PC and 116 were not. The composite score for aggressive EOL care was significantly higher for patients not followed by PC (2.2 vs 0.5; p<0.0001). None of the PC group patients was intubated or admitted to intensive care; 91.2% of the patients followed by PC died at home or in hospice, while 81.9% of the other patients died in the hospital.

Many patients who died of HM received intensive treatment near EOL. Our data support the value of integrating PC into the HM routine practice and can be the basis for new studies.

Timely palliative and hospice care, along with advanced care planning, can reduce avoidable high-intensity care and improve quality of life at the end of life (EoL).

We examined patterns of care at EoL and evaluated predictors of high-intensity care at EoL among adults aged 18-64 with cancer.

Using data from the Puerto Rico Central Cancer Registry-Health Insurance Linkage Database, we examined 1359 patients diagnosed with cancer in 2010-2019, who died of cancer between 2017 and 2019 at 64 years and younger, and who were enrolled in Medicaid or private health insurance in last 30 days before death. We used composite measures for high-intensity and recommended EoL care using claims-based indicators in the last 30 days before death. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine predictors associated with high-intensity EoL care.

About 70.3% of young and middle-aged Hispanic cancer patients received high-intensity EoL care, whereas only 20.6% received recommended EoL care. Patients without recommended EoL care were more likely to receive high-intensity EoL care (aOR=4.23; 95% CI=3.18-5.61). High-intensity EoL care was more likely in female patients (aOR=1.43; 95% CI=1.11-1.85) and patients with hematologic cancers (aOR=1.91; 95% CI=1.13-3.20) and less likely in patients who survived >12 months after cancer diagnosis (aOR=0.55; 95% CI=0.43-0.71).

A high proportion of Hispanic adults with cancer in Puerto Rico receive high-intensity EoL care and have unmet needs at EoL. Tailored interventions can reduce high-intensity EoL care and increase recommended EoL care. Recommended EoL care can ease pain, reduce distress, honor personal preferences, and cut unnecessary medical costs.

Considerable efforts have been dedicated to improving the quality of end-of-life care among patients with advanced cancer in the past decade. Whether the quality has shifted in response to these efforts remains unknown.

To examine contemporary patterns of end-of-life care among patients with advanced cancer.

This retrospective cohort study used a recent linkage of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results and Medicare data to characterize patterns of end-of-life care. The cohort included fee-for-service Medicare decedents aged 66 years or older who were originally diagnosed with distant-stage breast, prostate, pancreatic, or lung cancers and died between 2014 and 2019. Analyses were conducted between June 1, 2023, and July 31, 2024.

Outcomes included monthly use of acute care, systemic therapy, and supportive care (ie, palliative and hospice care and advanced care planning) in the last 6 months of life. Additionally, a claims-based indicator was evaluated of potentially aggressive care in the last 30 days of life, defined as experiencing more than 1 acute care visit, in-hospital mortality, late receipt of systemic therapy, or hospice entry.

The study included 33 744 Medicare decedents with advanced cancer (mean [SD] age, 75.7 [6.9] years; 52.1% male). From 6 months before death to month of death, there was an increase in the mean (SE) number of acute care visits (from 14.0 [0.5] to 46.2 [0.5] per 100 person-months), hospice use (from 6.6 [0.4] to 73.5 [0.5] per 100 person-months), palliative care (from 2.6 [0.2] to 26.1 [0.6] per 100 person-months), and advanced care planning (from 1.7 [0.6] to 12.8 [1.1] per 100 person-months). Overall, 45.0% of decedents experienced any indicator of potentially aggressive care.

This study found persistent patterns of potentially aggressive care, but low uptake of supportive care, among Medicare decedents with advanced cancer. A multifaceted approach targeting patient-, physician-, and system-level factors associated with potentially aggressive care is imperative for improving quality of care at the end of life.

While the use of chemotherapy near the end of life (EOL) has been identified as a relevant criterion for assessing quality of cancer care and has been estimated as non-beneficial, a trend of aggressiveness in cancer care during the last period of life remains. Both patients' sociodemographic characteristics and physicians' practice setting are associated with this use. The role of patients' psychosocial characteristics has however been understudied. The objectives were to study oncologists' intention to recommend chemotherapy or therapeutic abstention in an EOL patient's case and to examine the factors associated with this decision.

A clinical vignette-based questionnaire survey was conducted. While the case presented to the participating oncologists of a patient with EGFR-mutated lung cancer, progressing after osimertinib, ECOG 3, with leptomeningeal disease (N = 146), was strictly equivalent in terms of medical aspects and age, 4 patients' non-medical characteristics were manipulated: gender, marital status, parenthood, and psychosocial characteristics ("nice" patients, patients "making strong demands," or control patients).

77.4% of the oncologists surveyed stated that they would recommend chemotherapy in this situation. Only scenarios with nice patients or patients making strong demands were associated with less recommendation of chemotherapy (70.8% for the nice/making strong demands scenarios together vs 87.7%, for the control scenario P = .017). Medical oncologists with previous experience of similar cases were also less keen to recommend chemotherapy (73% vs 100%, P = .007). Of the 76.7% of respondents declaring that they would think of other therapeutic options, 49.1% mentioned "other treatments" without mentioning palliative care.

Developing physicians' awareness of the psychosocial aspects at stake in their medical decisions in these sensitive situations may improve EOL care.

Disease-focus management of late-stage cancer without addressing patients' preferences or quality of life (QoL) can lead to unsatisfactory patient and disease outcomes.

A PRISMA-adherent systematic review of the literature was conducted via PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar to assess the current late-stage cancer treatment modality, setting, timing, and cost, their impact on patient and disease outcomes, and possible interventions for improvement.

Out of many studies, twelve from North America, Western Europe, and Asia met our inclusion criteria. A detailed analysis of the 929,408 late-stage cancer patients included revealed common management practices. Typically, patients were subjected to sustained intensive disease-focused treatment through the end-of-life (EoL) while deferring palliative care and other host-sustaining measures. Such practices compromised patients' QoL and increased costs without meeting their needs and expectations or significantly altering the course of the disease. To forestall such practices, five pragmatic host-focused management principles are proposed. In contrast to clinical practice guidelines (CPG), they can be promoted directly to current and future cancer care professionals as an easy-to-memorize and apply template: to the former via continuing medical education, podcasts, webinars, and other tutorials; to the latter by its incorporation into Oncology, Hematology, Hospice, and other cancer-training programs.

Despite major advances in early-stage cancer treatment and survival, late-stage cancer care is hindered by continuous disease-focused practices pursued through the EoL that lead to unsatisfactory patient and disease outcomes. Such practices can be reversed by adopting host-focused management principles that promote QoL and meet patients' needs and expectations as a basis for delivering holistic cancer care through the EoL.

Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that palliative care (PC) can improve quality of life and survival for outpatients with advanced cancer, but there are limited population-based data on the value of inpatient PC. We assessed PC as a component of high-value care among a nationally representative sample of inpatients with metastatic cancer and identified hospitalization characteristics significantly associated with high costs.

Hospitalizations of patients 18 years and older with a primary diagnosis of metastatic cancer from the National Inpatient Sample from 2010 to 2019 were analyzed. We used multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression to assess medical services, patient demographics, and hospital characteristics associated with higher charges billed to insurance and hospital costs. Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to determine cost savings associated with provision of PC.

Among 397,691 hospitalizations from 2010 to 2019, the median charge per admission increased by 24.9%, from $44,904 in US dollars (USD) to $56,098 USD, whereas the median hospital cost remained stable at $14,300 USD. Receipt of inpatient PC was associated with significantly lower charges (odds ratio [OR], 0.62 [95% CI, 0.61 to 0.64]; P < .001) and costs (OR, 0.59 [95% CI, 0.58 to 0.61]; P < .001). Factors associated with high charges were receipt of invasive medical ventilation (P < .001) or systemic therapy (P < .001), Hispanic patients (P < .001), young age (18-49 years, P < .001), and for-profit hospitals (P < .001). PC provision was associated with a $1,310 USD (-13.6%, P < .001) reduction in costs per hospitalization compared with no PC, independent of the receipt of invasive care and age.

Inpatient PC is associated with reduced hospital costs for patients with metastatic cancer, irrespective of age and receipt of aggressive interventions. Integration of inpatient PC may de-escalate costs incurred through low-value inpatient interventions.

The link between palliative care and oncology must continue to develop, taking into account advances in treatment.Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) for metastatic melanoma is associated with different types of response, making it difficult to assess the benefits to the patient. Some clinical trials suggest a survival advantage of ICI even in the absence of an objective radiographic response. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of continuing ICI after progression of the disease on the overall survival (OS) in a cohort of final-line metastatic melanoma patients. Clinical data from 120 patients with metastatic melanoma were collected via Melbase, a French multicentric biobank, prospectively enrolling unresectable melanoma. Two groups were defined: patients continuing final-line ICI at progression (treated) and patients stopping ICI at progression (controls). The primary end-point is the OS from progression. Propensity score weighting was used to correct for indication bias. From the 120 patients, 72 (60%) continued ICI. Median OS from progression was 4.2 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.6-6.27] in the treated group and median OS was 1.3 months (95% CI 0.95-1.74) in the control group ( P  < 0.0001). The calculated hazard ratio was 0.20 (0.13-0.33). Continued ICI was discovered to have an association with a higher rate of hospitalization at the end of life; more treatments received in the last 15 days of life and less utilization of specialist palliative care. This study discovered that patients with metastatic melanoma show a significant decrease in the instantaneous probability of mortality when they continue with finale-line ICI after progression.

In Taiwan, as the population ages, palliative care services (PCS) have expanded significantly to include comprehensive benefit plans for critically ill individuals, supported by reimbursements from the National Health Insurance program. However, incorporating palliative care into the medical management of these patients presents several challenges. We aim to evaluate the effects of palliative care interventions on medical resources in end-of-life scenarios, to promote earlier palliative care access and provide high-quality healthcare services for patients.

A total of 2202 patients were included in this study. Primary diagnosis and referral for PCS were assessed using ICD-10 and HNI code. All study subjects were divided into three groups: patients who did not receive PCS (no-PCS), patients who received PCS before their final hospital admission (PCS-before), and patients who received PCS after their final admission (PCS-after). We evaluated (i) the effects of PCS on eight medical resource utilization outcomes within the 30 days preceding death and (ii) the effects of early intervention on two major diseases.

Initiating PCS before a patient's last hospital admission was associated with less aggressive medical interventions in the 30 days before death, including reduced length of intensive care unit (ICU) [odds ratio (OR) = 0.25], and rates of endotracheal intubation (OR = 0.12), respiratory ventilator support (OR = 0.20), cardiopulmonary resuscitation (OR = 0.18), and blood transfusion (OR = 0.65). Among patients with cancer and lung diseases, those who received PCS prior to their final hospitalization of over 14 days experienced reduced hospitalization duration (OR = 0.52 and 0.24, respectively). Patients with lung disease also had significantly lower odds of ICU stays (OR = 0.44) and respiratory ventilation (OR = 0.33).

The timing of palliative care intervention critically impacts on duration of hospitalization and ICU stay and the need for intubation procedures or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The findings can help the government and medical providers in developing comprehensive palliative care policies and programs to improve care quality and patient rights.

Given the significant morbidity and mortality associated with primary bone cancer, provision of high-quality end-of-life care concordant with patient preferences is critical. This study aimed to evaluate trends in use of dedicated end-of-life care settings and investigate sociodemographic disparities in location of death among individuals with primary bone cancer.

A retrospective, population-based review of patients who died of primary bone cancer-related causes was performed using the Underlying Cause of Death public use record from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) database for the years 2003 through 2019. A total of 24,557 patients were included.

Over the study period, the proportion of primary bone cancer-related deaths occurring at home and in hospice increased, whereas those occurring in hospital, nursing home, and outpatient medical facility/emergency department settings decreased. Several sociodemographic factors were found to be associated with location of death, including age, marital status, and level of education. Moreover, patients of racial and ethnic minority groups were at significantly lower risk of experiencing death at home or in outpatient medical facility/emergency department settings relative to a hospital compared with White patients.

Although rates of in-hospital death from primary bone cancer are decreasing, marked racial and ethnic disparities in use of dedicated end-of-life care settings exist. These gaps must be addressed to ensure all patients with primary bone cancer have equitable access to high-quality end-of-life care regardless of racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic status. [Orthopedics. 2025;48(1):44-50.].

Engaging people in advance care planning is a challenging systemic problem that requires a social innovation approach and a conceptual framework to guide behavioural and social change efforts.

To identify stakeholders' perspectives on barriers to advance care planning engagement, options for overcoming these barriers, and user needs. The findings will inform the design of a health behaviour change intervention for engaging older adults (50+) in advance care planning.

To advance co-production and intervention design goals, the study used collective intelligence and scenario-based design methods.

Following a systematic stakeholder analysis, 22 participants were recruited to three online collective intelligence sessions. The socioecological perspective informed framing of integrated findings and specifying factors at the individual, interpersonal, service, and system levels.

Identified barriers (n = 109) were grouped into seven categories: (i) Psychological, (ii) Advance Care Planning Literacy, (iii) Interpersonal and Interprofessional, (iv) Service-Related, (v) Resources and Supports, (vi) Advance Care Planning Process and Methods, (vii) Cultural and Societal. Stakeholders generated 222 options for overcoming these barriers and specified 230 service user needs. The need to change perceptions of advance care planning, increase psychological readiness, and target advance care planning literacy was highlighted (individual-level). Timely, focused, and meaningful interaction between the key ACP actors must be facilitated using creative strategies (interpersonal-level). Need- and value-based services, including high quality resources, support systems, and infrastructure, should be co-designed (service-level). Cultural and societal transformation is required (system-level).

Findings integration offered insight into the complexity of the design context and problem situation and identified directions for context-specific advance care planning intervention development. The use of design thinking methodologies is recommended for the next phase of complex intervention development.

The study presents a roadmap of actions required from policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers to ensure the design of adequate advance care planning interventions.

Quality of reporting was assured by adherence to Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) guidelines (International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 19, 2007, 349).

Patient and public representatives participated in the collective intelligence sessions. Members of the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care Voices4Care facilitated that process. Findings from the first CI session (involving patients and caregivers) informed the content, format, and methods used in subsequent CI sessions.

Objectives: (1) To describe ACPT implementation frequency in practice. (2) To assess associations of ACPT documentation with a) hospital care consumption, including systemic anti-tumor treatment in the last month(s) of life, and b) match between preferred and actual place of death, among oncology patients. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed. Data concerning ACPT documentation, hospital care consumption, and preferred and actual place of death were extracted from electronic patient records. Patients with completely documented ACPT (cACPT) and no ACPT were compared using multivariable logistic regression analyses. Results: ACPT was implemented in 64.5% (n = 793) of all deceased patients (n = 1230). In 17.6% (n = 216), preferred place of care or death was documented at least three months before death (cACPT). A cACPT was not associated with systemic anti-tumor treatment (Adjusted OR (AOR): 0.976; 95% CI: 0.642-1.483), but patients with cACPT had fewer diagnostic tests (AOR: 0.518; CI: 0.298-0.903) and less contacts with hospital disciplines (AOR: 0.545; CI: 0.338-0.877). In patients with cACPT, a match between preferred and actual place of death was found for 83% of the patients for whom the relevant information was available (n = 117/n = 141). In patients without ACPT, this information was mostly missing. Conclusion: Although the ACPT was implemented in two thirds of patients, timely documentation of preferred place of care or death is often missing. Yet, timely documentation of these preferences may promote out-hospital-death and save hospital care consumption.

Despite improvements in survival, cancer remains the leading cause of non-accidental death in children and adolescents, who risk receiving high-intensity end-of-life (HI-EOL) care.

To analyse treatments for relapses (particularly in the last weeks of life), assess their impact on the EOL, identify patients most likely to receive HI-EOL care and examine whether palliative care services can contain the intensity of EOL care.

This retrospective study involved patients treated at the paediatric oncology unit of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Milan who died between 2018 and 2020. The primary outcome was HI-EOL care, defined as: ≥1 session of intravenous chemotherapy <14 days before death; ≥1 hospitalisation in intensive care in the last 30 days of life and ≥1 emergency room admission in the last 30 days of life.

The study concerned 68 patients, and 17 had HI-EOL care. Patients given specific in-hospital treatments in the last 14 days of their life more frequently died in hospital. Those given aggressive EOL care were less likely to die at home or in the hospice. Patients with central nervous system (CNS) tumours were more likely to have treatments requiring hospitalisation, and to receive HI-EOL care.

These results underscore the importance of considering specific treatments at the EOL with caution. Treatments should be administered at home whenever possible.The early activation of palliative care, especially for fragile and complicated patients like those with CNS cancers, could help families cope with the many problems they face.

Having a hematological malignancy increases the risk of a poor-quality end of life and of dying in intensive care. There is no prognostic score to predict survival on admission to intensive care, but many patients die there. To identify the criteria used in deciding to transfer patients with hematological malignancies to intensive care.

It is a qualitative study. For each patient with a hematological malignancy who died in intensive care, the resuscitator and hematologist involved in the decision to transfer the patient to intensive care were contacted. The study ran at Lyon Sud Hospital Center, between 1 November 2018 and 30 April 2019. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with data triangulation. Seventeen doctors were contacted, and 17 interviews were conducted.

When transferring a patient with a hematological malignancy to intensive care, we identified (i) patient-specific decision criteria for the transfer, namely prognosis of the disease and treatments received, and (ii) decision criteria specific to hematologists and resuscitators, namely difficulty confronting management failure, convenience of transfer to the ICU for hematologists, and attachment of hematologists to their patients.

Organizational convenience of transfer to intensive care was the main criterion for hematologists, but emotional attachment favored futile obstinacy, doing everything possible to the detriment of the patient's comfort. It would be useful to make an upstream appraisal of the impact that an early evaluation of the level of care of patients with hematological malignancies could have on reducing deaths in intensive care.

Antitumour treatment in the last 2 weeks of death (ATT-W2) and a new regimen of ATT within 30 days of death (NATT-M1) are considered as aggressive end-of-life (EOL) care. We aimed to assess factors associated with inappropriate use of antitumour treatment (ATT) at EOL.

Data of patients with cancer who died in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 in a single for-profit cancer centre were retrospectively analysed. ATT was divided into chemotherapy (CT), oral targeted therapy (OTT), hormonotherapy and immunotherapy (IMT).

A total of 1282 patients were included. NATT-M1 was given to 197 (15.37%) patients, and 167 (13.03%) had an ATT-W2. Patients with a performance status of <2 and treated with CT had more both ATT- W2 (OR=2.45, 95% CI 1.65 to 3.65, and OR=10.29, 95% CI 4.70 to 22.6, respectively) and NATT-M1 (OR=2.01, 95% CI 1.40 to 2.90, and OR=8.41, 95% CI 4.46 to 15.86). Predictive factors of a higher rate of ATT-W2 were treatment with OTT (OR=19.08, 95% CI 7.12 to 51.07), follow-up by a medical oncologist (OR=1.49, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.17), miscellaneous cancer (OR=3.50, 95% CI 1.13 to 10.85) and length of hospital stay before death of <13 days (OR=1.92, 95% CI 1.32 to 2.79). Urinary tract and male genital cancers received less ATT-W2 (OR=0.38, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.89, and OR=0.40, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.99) and patients treated by IMT or with age <69 years more NATT-M1 (OR=19.21, 95% CI 7.55 to 48.8, and OR=1.69, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.37). Patients followed up by the palliative care team (PCT) had fewer ATT-W2 and NATT-M1 (OR=0.49, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.71, and OR=0.42, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.58).

Most recent ATT and access to a PCT follow-up are the two most important potentially modifiable factors associated with aggressive EOL in patients with cancer. Early integrated palliative oncology care could help to decrease futile ATT at EOL.

Little is known about serious illness conversations (SIC) conducted during telemedicine visits and their impact on end-of-life (EOL) outcomes for patients with advanced cancer.

We conducted a retrospective analysis telemedicine visits for patients with metastatic lung cancer conducted during the first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic (October 3, 2020-October 6, 2020). We used natural language processing (NLP) to characterize documentation of SIC domains (ie, goals of care [GOC], limitation of life-sustaining treatment [LLST], prognostic awareness [PA], palliative care [PC], and hospice). We used unadjusted logistic regression to evaluate factors associated with SIC documentation and the relationship between SIC documentation and EOL outcomes.

The study included 634 telemedicine visits across 360 patients. Documentation of at least one SIC domain was present in 188 (29.7%) visits with GOC and PA being the most discussed domains. Family presence (odds ratio [OR], 1.66; P = .004), progressive or newly diagnosed disease (OR, 5.42; P < .000), age ≥ 70 (OR, 1.80; P = .009), and male sex (OR, 2.23; P < .000) were associated with a greater likelihood of discussing ≥ 1 SIC domain. Of the 61 patients who died within 12 months of the study period, having ≥ 1 SIC domain discussed was associated with a lower likelihood of hospitalization in the last 30 days of life (OR, 0.27; P = .020).

In this study of telehealth visits, we identified important factors associated with an increased likelihood of having documentation of an SIC and demonstrated that SIC documentation correlated with lower likelihood of hospitalization at EOL.

Little is known about the nature of change in goals of care (GOC) over time among adolescents and younger adult (AYA) patients aged 12 to 39 years with cancer near the end of life. Understanding how GOC evolve may guide clinicians in supporting AYA patients in making end-of-life decisions.

To assess frequency, timing, and evolution of documented GOC among AYA patients with cancer in the last 90 days of life.

This cross-sectional study included a retrospective review of medical records from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, and Kaiser Permanente Southern California of AYA patients with cancer who were 12 to 39 years of age at death and who died between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2019. Data were analyzed from July 1, 2023, through April 30, 2024.

Stage IV cancer or stage I-III cancer with new metastasis or recurrence.

The primary outcome was documented GOC discussions, categorized by timing before death as initial (>60 days), middle (31-60 days), or late (≤30 days). Goals were classified as palliative, nonpalliative, undecided, or not discussed. Subgroup analysis according to race and ethnicity were also performed.

Among 1929 AYA patients with a mean (SD) age at cancer diagnosis of 28 (8) years, 1049 (54.5%) were female; 5 (0.3%) were American Indian or Alaska Native, 227 (11.8%) were Asian, 157 (8.1%) were Black or African American, 14 (0.7%) were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 1184 (61.4%) were White, 11 (0.6%) were of more than 1 race, 38 (2.0%) were categorized as other race, 293 (15.2%) were without documented race, 514 (26.6%) were Hispanic or Latino, 762 (39.5%) were not Hispanic or Latino, and 653 (33.9%) had no documented ethnicity. Few AYA patients had palliative goals documented in the initial period (139 [7.2%]), increasing to 331 (17.2%) in the middle period and 1113 (57.7%) in the late period. In total, 393 patients (20.4%) transitioned from documented nonpalliative goals in the initial or middle periods to palliative goals by the late period. Many patients had no documented GOC discussion until close to death (initial, 1364 [70.7%]; middle, 969 [50.2%]; and late, 322 [16.7%]). Among the 1929 patients, non-White patients were disproportionately represented among those not having documented GOC discussions (Black, 30 of 157 [19.1%]; Asian, 45 of 227 [19.8%]; and other or undocumented race, 80 of 361 [22.2%]) compared with White patients (167 of 1184 [14.1%]) (P < .001) as were Hispanic or Latino patients (116 of 514 [22.6%]) compared with non-Hispanic patients (93 of 762 [12.2%]) (P < .001) and individuals with no ethnicity documented (113 of 653 [17.3%]) (P < .001).

In this cross-sectional study of AYA patients who died of cancer, palliative goals were rarely documented before the last month of life, highlighting the need for timely and ongoing GOC discussions.

Predicting the survival time of patients at the end of life can provide more accurate treatment and care programs for patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors impacting 14-day survival at the end of life.

This was a retrospective study. Patients with advanced cancer admitted to the Department of Palliative Medicine in a tertiary hospital in China in 2021 were included and classified into group A (survival time ≤ 14 days) or group B (survival time > 14 days). Patient demographic characteristics, palliative performance scale (PPS) scores, Barthel index scores, Fracture Risk Assessment Scale (FRAIL) scale scores, clinical features and laboratory test results were extracted from medical records. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify predictors of death within 14 days. Survival time was compared between frail and nonfrail patients.

A total of 261 patients were included (122 in group A and 139 in group B), with a median survival time of 17 (13.04, 20.96) days. There were significant differences in age, FRAIL score, PPS, Barthel index, dyspnea, edema, C-reactive protein and white blood cell count between the two groups. According to the multivariable logistic regression analysis, the PPS could predict the risk of death within 14 days (OR = 6.818, 95% CI = 3.944-11.785, p < 0.001). The median survival time was 48 (33.71, 62.29) days in the nonfrail group (n = 34) and 15 (12.46, 17.54) days in the frail group (n = 227) (p < 0.001).

A lower PPS increases the risk of 14-day mortality in patients at the end of life. Frailty may shorten the survival time of patients at the end of life.

Knowledge of determinants of aggressive end-of-life care is crucial to organizing effective palliative care for patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer.

This study aims to investigate the determinants of aggressive end-of-life care in patients with GI cancer.

A national register-based cohort study using data from the Danish Register on Causes of Death, the Danish National Patient Register, and the Danish Palliative Database was the method of study employed.

All Danish patients who died from GI cancers from 2010 to 2020 comprised the study setting.

There were 43,969 patients with GI cancers in the cohort, of whom 62% were hospitalized in the last 30 days of life, 41% of patients died in the hospital, 10% had surgery, 39% were subjected to a radiological examination during the last 30 days of life and 3% had antineoplastic treatment during the last 14 days of life. Among all types of GI cancers, pancreatic cancer was significantly associated with all outcomes of aggressive end-of-life care except surgery. Patients in specialized palliative care (SPC) had lower odds of receiving aggressive end-of-life care and dying in the hospital. We found that patients with comorbidity and those who were divorced had higher odds of being hospitalized at the end of life and dying in the hospital.

Aggressive end-of-life care is associated with disease factors and socio-demographics. The potential to reduce aggressive end-of-life care is considerable in patients with GI cancer, as demonstrated by the impact of SPC. However, we need to address the needs of patients with GI cancer who do not receive SPC.

Clinical guidelines and quality improvement initiatives have identified reducing the use of end-of-life cancer therapies as an opportunity to improve care. We examined the extent to which oncologists differed in prescribing systemic therapies in the last 30 days of life.

Using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare data, we identified patients who died of cancer from 2012 to 2017 (N = 17,609), their treating oncologists (N = 960), and the corresponding physician practice (N = 388). We used multilevel models to estimate oncologists' rates of providing cancer therapy for patients in their last 30 days of life, adjusted for patient characteristics and practice variation.

Patients' median age at the time of death was 74 years (interquartile range, 69-79); patients had lung (62%), colorectal (17%), breast (13%), and prostate (8%) cancers. We observed substantial variation across oncologists in their adjusted rate of treating patients in the last 30 days of life: oncologists in the 95th percentile exhibited a 45% adjusted rate of treatment, versus 17% among the 5th percentile. A patient treated by an oncologist with a high end-of-life prescribing behavior (top quartile), compared to an oncologist with a low prescribing behavior (bottom quartile), had more than four times greater odds of receiving end-of-life cancer therapy (OR, 4.42; 95% CI, 4.00-4.89).

Oncologists show substantial variation in end-of-life prescribing behavior. Future research should examine why some oncologists more often continue systemic therapy at the end of life than others, the consequences of this for patient and care outcomes, and whether interventions shaping oncologist decision-making can reduce overuse of end-of-life cancer therapies.

To describe aggressive treatments at end-of-life among inpatients with cancer and non-cancer diseases and to evaluate factors associated with these treatments using the Japanese national database (NDB). We conducted a retrospective cohort study among inpatients aged ≥ 20 years who died between 2012 and 2015 using a sampling dataset of NDB. The outcome was the proportion of aggressive treatments in the last 14 days of life. We considered the underlying causes of death as cancer, dementia/senility, and heart, cerebrovascular, renal, liver, respiratory, and neurodegenerative diseases. We analyzed 54,105 inpatients, with underlying cause of death distributed as follows: cancer, 24.9%; heart disease, 16.5%; respiratory disease, 12.3%; and cerebrovascular disease, 9.7%. The proportion of intensive care unit (ICU) admission was 9.7%, being the highest in heart disease (20.5%), followed by cerebrovascular diseases (12.6%), and least in dementia/senility (.6%). The proportion of cardiopulmonary resuscitation was 19.6%, being the highest in heart disease (38.1%), followed by renal diseases (19.5%), and least in cancer (6.2%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that having heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, younger age, less comorbidities, and shorter length of stay were associated with an increasing risk of aggressive treatments in the last 14 days of life. The proportion of aggressive treatments at the end-of-life varies depending on the disease; additionally, these treatments were associated with having heart diseases, younger age, less comorbidity, and shorter length of stay. Our findings may help develop and set benchmarks for quality indicators at the end-of-life for patients with non-cancer diseases.

Investigate the impacts of palliative care consults, race, and socioeconomic status on the prevalence of invasive procedures in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Palliative care, race, and socioeconomic status can all influence end-of-life care preferences, but their roles in HCC have not been adequately explored.

This is a cross-sectional study of patients with HCC from 2016 to 2019 using the National Inpatient Sample. Terminal and nonterminal hospitalizations were assessed with logistical regression evaluating associations between palliative care, race, income, and procedures along with do-not-resuscitate orders and cost. Procedures included mechanical ventilation, tracheostomy, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) among others.

A total of 217,060 hospitalizations in patients with HCC were included, 18.1% of which included a palliative care encounter. The mean age was 65.0 years (SD = 11.3 y), 73.9% were males and 55.5% were white. Procedures were increased in terminal hospitalizations in black [CPR adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 2.57, P < 0.001] and Hispanic patients (tracheostomy aOR = 3.64, P = 0.018) compared with white patients. Palliative care encounters were associated with reduced procedures during terminal hospitalizations (mechanical ventilation aOR = 0.47, P < 0.001, CPR aOR = 0.24, P < 0.001), but not in nonterminal hospitalizations. No association between income and end-of-life procedures was found. Palliative care was associated with decreased mean cost in terminal ($23,608 vs $31,756, P < 0.001) and nonterminal hospitalizations ($15,786 vs $19,914, P < 0.001).

Palliative care is associated with less aggressive end-of-life care and decreased costs in patients with HCC. Black and Hispanic race were both associated with more aggressive end-of-life care.

To address the need for short-term prognostic methods using objective measures, we developed a method to predict a 2- or 3-week prognosis using only six clinical tests (known as the WPCBAL score). However, the method has not yet been directly compared with globally accepted prognostic methods.

This study aimed to clarify the usefulness of the WPCBAL score by comparing it with other prediction methods.

A prospective observational study was conducted with patients admitted to the palliative care unit of a Municipal Hospital in Japan between November 2017 and May 2021.

The primary endpoint was each prediction method's accuracy-the WPCBAL score, Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS), Palliative Prognostic Index (PPI), Palliative Prognostic Score (PaP), Delirium-Palliative Prognostic Score (D-PaP), and Prognosis in Palliative Care Study predictor models (PiPS-A, PiPS-B)-in predicting a prognosis at 2 or 3 weeks. The secondary endpoints were sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, and each prediction method's feasibility rate.

In total, 181 patients were included in this study. For the 3-week prognosis, the PaP had the highest accuracy (0.746), followed by the D-PaP (0.735), WPCBAL (0.696), PPI (0.652), and GPS (0.575). For the 2-week prognosis, the PiPS-B had the highest accuracy (0.702), followed by the WPCBAL (0.696) and PiPS-A (0.641).

The WPCBAL score's accuracy in predicting a 2- or 3-week prognosis was comparable to that of commonly used prognostic methods, thus suggesting its usefulness as a short-term prognostic method.

Despite research supporting the benefits of early palliative care, timely initiation by gynecologic oncology patients is reportedly low, which may limit the effectiveness of palliative care.

To investigate the association of the timing of palliative care initiation with the aggressiveness of end-of-life care using established quality indicators among patients with ovarian cancer.

This population-based retrospective cohort study of ovarian cancer decedents used linked administrative health care data to identify palliative care provision across all health care sectors and health care professionals (specialist and nonspecialist) and end-of-life quality indicators in Ontario, Canada, from 2006 to 2018. Data analyses were performed July 12, 2024.

The primary outcome was the associations between the timing of palliative care and end-of-life quality indicators, including emergency department use, hospital or intensive care unit admission in the last 30 days of life, chemotherapy in last 14 days of life, death in the hospital, and a composite measure of aggressive care. Late palliative care was defined as 3 months or less prior to death.

There were 8297 ovarian cancer decedents. Their mean (SD) age at death was 69.6 (13.1) years, and their mean (SD) oncologic survival was 2.8 (3.9) years. Among 3958 patients with known cancer stage, 3495 (88.3%) presented with stage III or IV disease. One-third of patients (2667 [32.1%]) received late palliative care in the final 3 months of life. Results of multivariable regression analysis indicated that any palliative care initiated earlier than 3 months before death was associated with lower rates of aggressive end-of-life care (odds ratio [OR], 0.47 [95% CI, 0.37-0.60]), death in hospital (OR, 0.54 [95% CI, 0.45-0.65]), and intensive care unit admission (OR, 0.46 [95% CI, 0.27-0.76]). Specialist palliative consultation from 3 months up to 6 monts before death was associated with decreased likelihood of late chemotherapy (OR, 0.46 [95% CI, 0.24-0.88]).

Findings from this cohort study suggested that early palliative care may be associated with less-aggressive end-of-life care than late palliative care. Implementation strategies for early palliative care initiation are needed to optimize care quality and health resource utilization at the end of life.

To assess the appropriateness of systemic oncological treatments (SOT) provided to patients diagnosed with advanced esophageal cancer (EC) across a group of participating hospitals.

Multicenter, retrospective cohort study in five Spanish hospitals including newly confirmed advanced EC cases between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2016, with a 5-year follow-up.

We identified 157 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria (median age: 65 years, 85.9% males). Most patients, 125 (79.6%) were treated at least with one active treatment, and 33% received two or more lines of SOT. The 1-, 2- and 5-year overall survival rates were 30.3% [95%CI: 23.8, 38.7], 14.0% [95%CI: 9.3, 21.0], and 7.1% [95% CI: 3.8, 13.1] respectively, and the median survival time 8 months (95% CI: 6, 19) for stages IIIb IIIc and 7 months (95% CI: 5, 9) for stage IV. Clinical stage, receiving more than one line of SOT, and treatment with radiotherapy accelerated the time to death (0.4, 0.9-, and 0.8-times shorter survival respectively, p < 0.05). Better performance status (ECOG < 2) extended survival time by 2.2 times (p = 0.04). Age < 65 years (OR 9.4, 95% CI 3.2, 31.4, p < 0.001), and being treated in one particular hospital (OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.0, 0.8, p < 0.01) were associated with the administration of two or more lines of SOT. Altogether, 18.9% and 9.0% of patients received chemotherapy in the last four and two weeks of life, respectively. Moreover, 2.5% of patients were prescribed a new line of chemotherapy during the last month of life. The proportion of all patients who did not have access to palliative care reached 29.3%, and among those who had access to it, 34.2% initiated it in the last month of life.

A high proportion of advanced EC patients receive many treatments not based on sound evidence and they do not benefit enough from palliative care services. The most accepted appropriateness indicators point out that some of the analyzed patients could have been overtreated. This study provides important insights into the quality of care provided to advanced EC, and furthermore, for giving valuable insight and opportunities for improvement.

The effectiveness of generalist palliative care interventions in hospitals is unknown.

This study aimed to explore the impact of a palliative care case management intervention for patients with gastrointestinal cancer (PalMaGiC) on hospital admissions, healthcare use, and place of death.

This was a register-based cohort study analyzing data from the Danish Register on Causes of Death, the Danish National Patient Register, and the Danish Palliative Database.

Deceased patients with gastrointestinal cancer from 2010 to 2020 exposed to PalMaGiC were compared over three periods of time to patients receiving standard care.

A total of 43,969 patients with gastrointestinal cancers were included in the study, of whom 1518 were exposed to PalMaGiC. In the last 30 days of life, exposed patients were significantly more likely to be hospitalized (OR of 1.62 (95% CI 1.26-2.01)), spend more days at the hospital, estimate of 1.21 (95% CI 1.02-1.44), and have a higher number of hospital admissions (RR of 1.13 (95% CI 1.01-1.27)), and were more likely to die at the hospital (OR of 1.94 (95% CI 1.55-2.44)) with an increasing trend over time. No differences were found for hospital healthcare use.

Patients exposed to the PalMaGiC intervention had a greater likelihood of hospitalizations and death at the hospital compared to unexposed patients, despite the opposite intention. Sensitivity analyses show that regional differences may hold some of the explanation for this. Future development of generalist palliative care in hospitals should focus on integrating a home-based approach, community care, and PC physician involvement.

Despite the evidence for early palliative care improving outcomes, it has not been widely implemented in part due to palliative care workforce limitations.

To evaluate a stepped-care model to deliver less resource-intensive and more patient-centered palliative care for patients with advanced cancer.

Randomized, nonblinded, noninferiority trial of stepped vs early palliative care conducted between February 12, 2018, and December 15, 2022, at 3 academic medical centers in Boston, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Durham, North Carolina, among 507 patients who had been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer within the past 12 weeks.

Step 1 of the intervention was an initial palliative care visit within 4 weeks of enrollment and subsequent visits only at the time of a change in cancer treatment or after a hospitalization. During step 1, patients completed a measure of quality of life (QOL; Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung [FACT-L]; range, 0-136, with higher scores indicating better QOL) every 6 weeks, and those with a 10-point or greater decrease from baseline were stepped up to meet with the palliative care clinician every 4 weeks (intervention step 2). Patients assigned to early palliative care had palliative care visits every 4 weeks after enrollment.

Noninferiority (margin = -4.5) of the effect of stepped vs early palliative care on patient-reported QOL on the FACT-L at week 24.

The sample (n = 507) mostly included patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (78.3%; mean age, 66.5 years; 51.4% female; 84.6% White). The mean number of palliative care visits by week 24 was 2.4 for stepped palliative care and 4.7 for early palliative care (adjusted mean difference, -2.3; P < .001). FACT-L scores at week 24 for the stepped palliative care group were noninferior to scores among those receiving early palliative care (adjusted FACT-L mean score, 100.6 vs 97.8, respectively; difference, 2.9; lower 1-sided 95% confidence limit, -0.1; P < .001 for noninferiority). Although the rate of end-of-life care communication was also noninferior between groups, noninferiority was not demonstrated for days in hospice (adjusted mean, 19.5 with stepped palliative care vs 34.6 with early palliative care; P = .91).

A stepped-care model, with palliative care visits occurring only at key points in patients' cancer trajectories and using a decrement in QOL to trigger more intensive palliative care exposure, resulted in fewer palliative care visits without diminishing the benefits for patients' QOL. While stepped palliative care was associated with fewer days in hospice, it is a more scalable way to deliver early palliative care to enhance patient-reported outcomes.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03337399.

Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) is an internationally recognized program developed in Australia. Taiwan became the first country in Asia to implement PCOC in 2020. There is little research on the impact of PCOC in Asia. We sought to examine the effects of the Taiwan PCOC on palliative outcomes.

The study analyzed the impact of PCOC with a retrospective cohort design. The hypotheses were that PCOC could improve end-of-life care quality and reduce non-beneficial treatments. The study enrolled patients with terminal illnesses from the inpatient palliative care units. General characteristics of participants were collected. Exclusion criteria were people without a diagnosis of terminal illness, aged 20 and younger, or with missing data.

The study collected 1,121 patients, 555 in the PCOC comparison group and 566 in the intervention group. Most patients were with terminal cancer (88.58%). The rates of hospital deaths in the PCOC and non-PCOC groups were 68.73% vs. 74.95% (P = 0.021). A multivariable logistic regression model, adjusting for age, sex, Charlson comorbidity index, and terminal cancer status, was utilized. The PCOC intervention significantly decreased hospital deaths (OR = 0.26, 95%CI 0. 16-0.41, P < 0.001).

PCOC in Taiwan significantly reduced hospital deaths among terminal patients, possibly due to effective symptom management and improved communication via the use of patient-reported outcomes. Further research is needed to support PCOC implementation in Asia and investigate collaboration programs' impact on end-of-life care quality and non-beneficial treatments.

There is a paucity of literature guiding trauma surgeons in the care of patients with active metastatic cancer (MC). Even less is known regarding outcomes for MC patients requiring emergent surgery after trauma. We hypothesized that trauma patients with active Metastatic Cancer (MC) have an increased mortality rate and undergo increased rates of withdrawal of care (WoC) within 72-hours following emergent operations, compared to similarly matched patients without MC.

Patients with active MC at the time of traumatic injury were matched 1:2 against patients without active MC based on demographics, comorbidities, vital signs on admission, and injury profile.

From 43,826 patients, 0.2 % had MC. After matching 39 MC patients to 78 without MC, there was no difference in demographics, comorbidities, injury severity score, mechanism of injury, vitals on admission (blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate) and need for blood transfusion (all p > 0.05). Compared to patients without MC, patients with MC had higher rates and associated risk of death during index hospitalization (38.5 % vs. 15.2 %, p = 0.005; OR 3.49, CI 1.43-8.51, p = 0.006), as well as a higher rate and associated risk of WoC within 72-hours (12.8 % vs. 1.3 %, p = 0.007; OR 11.47, CI 1.29-101.93, p = 0.029).

Trauma patients with MC requiring emergent thoracic or abdominal surgery have a high risk of death and an over ten-fold higher associated risk for WoC within the first three days. In some cases, palliative care consultation should be considered, and counseling should be offered to this high-risk trauma population to enable individualized and patient-centric decisions.

This research highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary team consisting of trauma surgeons, oncologist, and palliative care physicians in caring for the high-risk trauma patients with disseminated cancer requiring urgent surgery.

This study aimed to clarify the situation and evaluate the communication on anticancer treatment discontinuation from the viewpoint of a bereaved family, in reference to the concept of nudges.

A multi-center questionnaire survey was conducted involving 350 bereaved families of patients with cancer admitted to palliative care units in Japan.

The following explanations were rated as essential or very useful: (i) treatment would be a physical burden to the patient (42.9%), (ii) providing anticancer treatment was impossible (40.5%), (iii) specific disadvantages of receiving treatment (40.5%), (iv) not receiving treatment would be better for the patient (39.9%) and (v) specific advantages of not receiving treatment (39.6%). The factors associated with a high need for improvement of the physician's explanation included lack of explanation on specific advantages of not receiving treatment (β = 0.228, P = 0.001), and lack of explanation of 'If the patient's condition improves, you may consider receiving the treatment again at that time.' (β = 0.189, P = 0.008).

Explaining the disadvantages of receiving treatment and the advantages of not receiving treatment, and presenting treatment discontinuation as the default option were effective in helping patients' families in making the decision to discontinue treatment. In particular, explanation regarding specific advantages of not receiving treatment was considered useful, as they caused a lower need for improvement of the physicians' explanation.