Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19030900›Full record

ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2009

Futile medication use in terminally ill cancer patients.

Rachel P Riechelmann, Monika K Krzyzanowska, Camilla Zimmermann

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
43citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
4.2field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

43 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 91 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Reducing potentially inappropriate medications in palliative cancer patients: evidence to support deprescribing approaches.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2014
    Pooled it
  3. Guideline
  4. Trial
  5. Observational
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. The paradox: guilt as an antidote to helplessness among oncologists.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022
    Article
  9. Observational
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Need for Deprescribing in Hospital Elderly Patients Discharged with a Limited Life Expectancy: The REPOSI Study.Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre · 2019
    Article
  20. Pharmacist-led medication assessment and deprescribing intervention for older adults with cancer and polypharmacy: a pilot study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2018
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Rachel P RiechelmannDepartment of Internal Medicine, Federal University of Sao Paulo, R: Luisiania 255, Apt 11, São Paulo, SP 04560-020, Brazil. rachelri@terra.com.br
Monika K Krzyzanowska
Camilla Zimmermann
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre · CAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo · BR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCancer patients usually take many medications. The proportion of patients with advanced cancer who are taking futile drugs is unknown. MATERIALS AND

methodsWe retrospectively reviewed the charts of all consecutive ambulatory patients with advanced cancer and who were receiving supportive care exclusively at palliative care clinics, Princess Margaret Hospital, to gather information on futile medications used by them. Futile medications were defined as unnecessary (when no short-term benefit to patients with respect to survival, quality of life, or symptom control was anticipated) or duplicate (two or more drugs from the same pharmacological class). Summary statistics were used to describe the results.

resultsFrom November 2005 to July 2006, 82 (22%) of 372 patients were taking at least one futile medication before consultation; after initial consultation, this proportion dropped to 20% (78): 70 patients were taking unnecessary medications, while eight were on duplicate medications. The most frequent unnecessary medications used by patients were statins (56%). The most common duplicate medication involved the use of two different benzodiazepines (seven patients).

conclusionAbout one fifth of cancer outpatients at the end of life take futile medications, most commonly statins. Prospective and population-based studies are warranted to further evaluate the magnitude and consequences of futile medication use in oncology.

Indexed as

Medical FutilityAdultAgedAged, 80 and overAmbulatory CareBenzodiazepinesFemaleHumansHydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase InhibitorsMaleMiddle AgedNeoplasmsPalliative CareQuality of LifeRetrospective StudiesYoung AdultBenzodiazepinesHydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors

Identifiers

PMID19030900
OpenAlexW2048425280

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.