ArticlePalliative medicine2019
How many older adults receive drugs of questionable clinical benefit near the end of life? A cohort study.
Article in Palliative medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Ethical aspects of limiting end-of-Life treatment of adult patients at the primary healthcare level in family and emergency medicine: a systematic review.BMC palliative care · 2025Pooled it
- Application of a person-centered prescription model improves pharmacotherapeutic indicators and reduces costs associated with pharmacological treatment in hospitalized older patients at the end of life.Frontiers in public health · 2022Trial
- Trends in Multi-dose Drug Dispensing Amongst Older Adults in Sweden: A Nationwide Repeated Cross-Sectional Register Study, 2014-2023.Drugs & aging · 2026Article
- Appropriateness and Outcome of a Statin Deprescription Intervention in Hospitalized Frail Older Adults: A Retrospective Study.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Deprescribing for patients nearing end of life: views, barriers and facilitators of palliative care patients, carers and nurses.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Impact of the deprescribing timing on medicines optimisation in older cancer patients receiving hospice care at the end of life: a comparative cohort study.European geriatric medicine · 2025Observational
- Prescribing and deprescribing in older people with life-limiting illnesses receiving hospice care at the end of life: A longitudinal, retrospective cohort study.Palliative medicine · 2024Article
- DEprescribing: Perceptions of PAtients living with advanced cancer. A multicentre, prospective mixed observational study protocol.PloS one · 2024Article
- Endocrine treatment near the end of life among older women with metastatic breast cancer: a nationwide cohort study.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Article
- Prescription trends at the end of life in a palliative care unit: observational study.BMC palliative care · 2022Observational
- Deprescribing in Palliative Cancer Care.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Article
- Methodological Challenges for Epidemiologic Studies of Deprescribing at the End of Life.Current epidemiology reports · 2021Article
- Sex-Differences in Discontinuation of Statin Treatment in Cancer Patients the Year before Death.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe high burden of disease-oriented drugs among older adults with limited life expectancy raises important questions about the potential futility of care.
aimTo describe the use of drugs of questionable clinical benefit during the last 3 months of life of older adults who died from life-limiting conditions.
designLongitudinal, retrospective cohort study of decedents. Death certificate data were linked to administrative and healthcare registries with national coverage in Sweden.
settingOlder adults (≥75 years) who died from conditions potentially amenable to palliative care between 1 January and 31 December 2015 in Sweden. We identified drugs of questionable clinical benefit from a set of consensus-based criteria.
resultsA total of 58,415 decedents were included (mean age, 87.0 years). During their last 3 months of life, they received on average 8.9 different drugs. Overall, 32.0% of older adults
conclusionA substantial share of older persons with life-limiting diseases receive drugs of questionable clinical benefit during their last months of life. Adequate training, guidance and resources are needed to rationalize and deprescribe drug treatments for older adults near the end of life.
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