Factors related to establishing a comfort care goal in nursing home patients with dementia: a cohort study among family and professional caregivers.

backgroundMany people with dementia die in long-term care settings. These patients may benefit from a palliative care goal, focused on comfort. Admission may be a good time to revisit or develop care plans.

objectiveTo describe care goals in nursing home patients with dementia and factors associated with establishing a comfort care goal.

designWe used generalized estimating equation regression analyses for baseline analyses and multinomial logistic regression analyses for longitudinal analyses.

settingProspective data collection in 28 Dutch facilities, mostly nursing homes (2007-2010; Dutch End of Life in Dementia study, DEOLD).

resultsEight weeks after admission (baseline), 56.7% of 326 patients had a comfort care goal. At death, 89.5% had a comfort care goal. Adjusted for illness severity, patients with a baseline comfort care goal were more likely to have a religious affiliation, to be less competent to make decisions, and to have a short survival prediction. Their families were less likely to prefer life-prolongation and more likely to be satisfied with family-physician communication. Compared with patients with a comfort care goal established later during their stay, patients with a baseline comfort care goal also more frequently had a more highly educated family member.

conclusionsInitially, over half of the patients had a care goal focused on comfort, increasing to the large majority of the patients at death. Optimizing patient-family-physician communication upon admission may support the early establishing of a comfort care goal. Patient condition and family views play a role, and physicians should be aware that religious affiliation and education may also affect the (timing of) setting a comfort care goal.