ArticleJournal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology2011
Why do patients with cancer visit emergency departments? Results of a 2008 population study in North Carolina.
Article in Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 180 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
180 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Understanding oncologic emergencies and related emergency department visits and hospitalizations: a systematic review.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Drivers of Emergency Department Use Among Oncology Patients in the Era of Novel Cancer Therapeutics: A Systematic Review.The oncologist · 2023Pooled it
- Emergency department visits for symptoms experienced by oncology patients: a systematic review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2012Pooled it
- Pooled it
- MyPainPal, a Novel mHealth App to Improve Pain in Patients With Advanced Cancer: Single-Arm Pilot Study.JMIR cancer · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Randomized Controlled Trial of a Nurse-Led Brief Behavioral Intervention for Dyspnea in Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2024Trial
- Assessing the Acceptability and Feasibility of Leveraging Emergency Department Social Workers' Advanced Communication Skills to Assess Elderly Patients' Goals and Values.Journal of palliative medicine · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Symptom Monitoring With Patient-Reported Outcomes During Routine Cancer Treatment: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2016Trial
- Effect of a Nurse-Led Psychoeducational Intervention on Healthcare Service Utilization Among Adults With Advanced Cancer.Oncology nursing forum · 2015Trial
- Trial
- Emergency department utilization and clinical outcomes among patients with gastrointestinal cancers receiving chemotherapy during the first year after diagnosis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Practical Insights from Operationalizing a Remote Symptom Monitoring Program Using a Commercial Platform in a Canadian Community Cancer Clinic: A Post-Implementation Qualitative Evaluation.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of electronic patient-reported outcomes in patients with cancer undergoing immunotherapy: a real-world retrospective study.International journal of clinical oncology · 2026Article
- Efficacy of NEPA for prevention of chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting in head and neck cancer patients receiving cisplatin-based chemotherapy.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- The Impact of Metabolic Bariatric Surgery on Inflammatory Bowel Disease Risk and Outcomes in Adults With Obesity: a Propensity-matched, Nationwide, Analysis.Obesity surgery · 2026Article
- Clinical Profiles and Reasons for Emergency Department Presentation Among Oncology Patients-A Retrospective Two-Center Study in Poland.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- A Decade of Specialized Acute Care: Clinical Impact of an Oncology-Hematology Emergency Room Compared to General Emergency Services.Cancer medicine · 2025Article
- Trends in Outpatient Opioid Prescriptions for Cancer Pain Between 2016 and 2021.JCO oncology practice · 2025Article
120 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeEmergency departments (EDs) in the United States are used by patients with cancer for disease or treatment-related problems and unrelated issues. The North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT) collects information about ED visits through a statewide database. PATIENTS AND
methodsAfter approval by the institutional review board, 2008 NC DETECT ED visit data were acquired and cancer-related visits were identified. Descriptive statistics and logistic regressions were performed. Of 4,190,911 ED visits in 2008, there were 37,760 ED visits by 27,644 patients with cancer.
resultsAmong patients, 77.2% had only one ED visit in 2008, the mean age was 64 years, and there were slightly more men than women. Among visits, the payor was Medicare for 52.4% and Medicaid for 12.1%. More than half the visits by patients with cancer occurred on weekends or evenings, and 44.9% occurred during normal hours. The top three chief complaints were related to pain, respiratory distress, and GI issues. Lung, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers were identified in 26.9%, 6.3%, 6%, and 7.7% of visits, respectively, with diagnosis. A total of 63.2% of visits resulted in hospital admittance. When controlling for sex, age, time of day, day of week, insurance, and diagnosis position, patients with lung cancer were more likely to be admitted than patients with other types of cancer.
conclusionTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to provide a population-based snapshot of ED visits by patients with cancer in North Carolina. Efforts that target clinical problems and specific populations may improve delivery of quality cancer care and avoid ED visits.
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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.