ArticleJCO oncology practice2022
Effect of Early Palliative Care on End-of-Life Health Care Costs: A Population-Based, Propensity Score-Matched Cohort Study.
Article in JCO oncology practice, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 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
38 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- Methodologies and characteristics of studies investigating the cost of the palliative phase of cancer: a systematic review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Screening instruments for early identification of unmet palliative care needs: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ supportive & palliative care · 2024Pooled it
- The impact of early palliative care on the quality of life of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer: The IMPERATIVE case-crossover study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2023Trial
- Missed opportunities: delayed in-hospital palliative care consultations in patients with non-metastatic cancers.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Lung Cancer Survivorship: Challenges and Care Needs.Cancers · 2026Review
- Association between the timing of palliative care consultation and end-of-life outcomes in patients with cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- The Impact of Early Palliative Care Decisions on Hospital Service Utilization and End-of-Life Care in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer-A Retrospective Study.Journal of palliative care · 2026Article
- Access to specialist palliative care and health care service utilization during the final year of life among patients with kidney disease.Clinical kidney journal · 2026Article
- Timing of specialist palliative care and acute healthcare utilization at the end of life among adults who died of cancer: a nationwide cohort study.BMC cancer · 2026Article
- Assessment of a clinical nurse specialist-led early palliative care initiative for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Tears, Suffering and System Failure: What My Father's Pain Revealed About the Canadian Healthcare System.Healthcare policy = Politiques de sante · 2026Article
- Advances in End-of-Life Care in Canada: Implications for Oncology Nursing.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Review
- Palliative Care With Tracheostomy or Gastrostomy Tube Use and End-of-Life Quality and Costs Among Patients With Head and Neck Cancer.JAMA otolaryngology-- head & neck surgery · 2025Article
- Palliative Care in Shanghai Communities: Needs, Influencing Factors and Preferences Among Older Adults with Chronic Diseases.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Early Palliative Care in Advanced Hematologic Malignancies: A Systematic Review of Patient-Centered Outcomes.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The impact of specialist palliative care on healthcare utilization among patients with breast cancer: a nationwide register-based cohort study.Breast cancer (Tokyo, Japan) · 2025Article
- Portable Medical Orders and Inpatient Cost at End of Life in Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndromes.JCO oncology practice · 2025Article
- End-of-Life Care Training for Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury in Ghana: A Novel Curriculum and Its Initial Implementation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Defining "early palliative care" for adults diagnosed with a life-limiting illness: a scoping review.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Predictors and Drivers of End-of-Life Medicare Spending Among Older Adults with Solid Tumors: A Population-Based Study.Cancers · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis study aimed to investigate the impact of early versus not-early palliative care among cancer decedents on end-of-life health care costs.
methodsUsing linked administrative databases, we created a retrospective cohort of cancer decedents between 2004 and 2014 in Ontario, Canada. We identified those who received early palliative care (palliative care service used in the hospital or community 12 to 6 months before death [exposure]). We used propensity score matching to identify a control group of not-early palliative care, hard matched on age, sex, cancer type, and stage at diagnosis. We examined differences in average health system costs (including hospital, emergency department, physician, and home care costs) between groups in the last month of life.
resultsWe identified 144,306 cancer decedents, of which 37% received early palliative care. After matching, we created 36,238 pairs of decedents who received early and not-early (control) palliative care; there were balanced distributions of age, sex, cancer type (24% lung cancer), and stage (25% stage III and IV). Overall, 56.3% of early group versus 66.7% of control group used inpatient care in the last month (
conclusionReceiving early palliative care reduced average health system costs in the last month of life, especially via avoided hospitalizations.
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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.