Observational studySupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2020
Palliative care needs of advanced cancer patients in the emergency department at the end of life: an observational cohort study.
Observational study in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Understanding oncologic emergencies and related emergency department visits and hospitalizations: a systematic review.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Methodological approaches to measuring the incidence of unplanned emergency department presentations by cancer patients receiving systemic anti-cancer therapy: a systematic review.BMC medical research methodology · 2022Pooled it
- Clinical Profiles and Reasons for Emergency Department Presentation Among Oncology Patients-A Retrospective Two-Center Study in Poland.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Patients' and healthcare providers' perceptions in outpatient palliative cancer care services at a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka: prospects for adoption of a digital health intervention.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Characteristics associated with accepting hospital at home among patients with cancer and their caregivers: a cross-sectional survey.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
- [Patients with cancer: a challenge for emergency departments].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2025Review
- Comparison of Palliative Knowledge and Self-Efficacy Expectation of German Paramedics Between a Rural and an Urban Structured Emergency Medical Service Area.Journal of palliative care · 2025Article
- Article
- Prognostic factors and development of the practical prediction score for 7-day mortality of palliative patients in the emergency department.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Emergency department use and responsiveness to the palliative care needs of patients with dementia at the end of life: A scoping review.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Article
- Analyzing innovative policies and practices for palliative care in Portugal: a qualitative study.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Article
- Article
- Intranasal Therapy in Palliative Care.Pharmaceutics · 2024Review
- Hospitalizations and re-hospitalizations at the end-of-life among cancer patients; a retrospective register data study.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- A Critical Overview of the Construct of Supportive Care Need in the Cancer Literature: Definitions, Measures, Interventions and Future Directions for Research.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Review
- Evaluation of software technical quality for collecting data from patients under palliative care.Revista brasileira de enfermagem · 2024Article
- Palliative Care Needs and Responses Among Lung Cancer Patients: Insights from a Provincial Hospital in Vietnam.Materia socio-medica · 2024Article
- Missed Opportunity to Diagnose Palliative Care Need Among Older Emergency Department Patients in a Middle-Income Country: A Retrospective Study.Open access emergency medicine : OAEM · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePatients with advanced cancer commonly visit the emergency department (ED) during the last 3 months of life. Identification of these patients and their palliative care needs help initiating appropriate care according to patients' wishes. Our objective was to provide insight into ED visits of advanced cancer patients at the end of life.
methodsAdult palliative patients with solid tumours who died < 3 months after their ED visit were included (2011-2014). Patients, ED visits, and follow-up were described. Factors associated with approaching death were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models.
resultsFour hundred twenty patients were included, 54.5% was male, median age 63 years. A total of 54.6% was on systemic anti-cancer treatments and 10.5% received home care ≥ 1 per day. ED visits were initiated by patients and family in 34.0% and 51.9% occurred during out-of-office hours. Dyspnoea (21.0%) or pain (18.6%) were most reported symptoms. Before the ED visit, limitations on life-sustaining treatments were discussed in 33.8%, during or after the ED visit in 70.7%. Median stay at the ED was 3:29 h (range 00:12-18:01 h), and 319 (76.0%) were hospitalized. Median survival was 18 days (IQ range 7-41). One hundred four (24.8%) died within 7 days after the ED visit, of which 71.2% in-hospital. Factors associated with approaching death were lung cancer, neurologic deterioration, dyspnoea, hypercalcemia, and jaundice.
conclusionED visits of advanced cancer patients often lead to hospitalization and in-hospital deaths. Timely recognition of patients with limited life expectancies and urgent palliative care needs, and awareness among ED staff of the potential of ED-initiated palliative care may improve the end-of-life trajectory of these patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.