Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38654605›Full record

ArticlePalliative medicine2024

'How long do you think?' Unresponsive dying patients in a specialist palliative care service: A consecutive cohort study.

Tricia O'Connor, Wai-Man Liu, Juliane Samara, Joanne Lewis, Catherine Paterson

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Palliative medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
2.2field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Tricia O'ConnorClare Holland House, Canberra Health Services, North Canberra Hospital, Canberra, ACT, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-6770-8295
Wai-Man LiuResearch School of Finance, Actuarial Studies and Statistics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Juliane SamaraClare Holland House, Canberra Health Services, North Canberra Hospital, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Joanne LewisSchool of Nursing and Health, Avondale University, Wahroonga, NSW, Australia.
Catherine PatersonCaring Futures Institute, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, Australia.
Flinders University · AUAustralian National University · AUAvondale University · AUCanberra Hospital · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPredicting length of time to death once the person is unresponsive and deemed to be dying remains uncertain. Knowing approximately how many hours or days dying loved ones have left is crucial for families and clinicians to guide decision-making and plan end-of-life care.

aimTo determine the length of time between becoming unresponsive and death, and whether age, gender, diagnosis or location-of-care predicted length of time to death.

designRetrospective cohort study. Time from allocation of an Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status (AKPS) 10 to death was analysed using descriptive narrative. Interval-censored survival analysis was used to determine the duration of patient's final phase of life, taking into account variation across age, gender, diagnosis and location of death. SETTING/

participantsA total of 786 patients, 18 years of age or over, who received specialist palliative care: as hospice in-patients, in the community and in aged care homes, between January 1st and October 31st, 2022.

resultsThe time to death after a change to AKPS 10 is 2 days (

conclusionThis study provides valuable new knowledge to support clinicians' confidence when responding to the 'how long' question and can inform decision-making at end-of-life. Further research using the AKPS could provide greater certainty for answering 'how long' questions across the illness trajectory.

Indexed as

Palliative CareTerminal CareAdultAgedAged, 80 and overAustraliaCohort StudiesFemaleHumansKarnofsky Performance StatusMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesTime FactorsAustralia-modified Karnofsky Performance StatusCohort studydyingpalliative careprognosisprognosticationterminal careterminally illunresponsive

Identifiers

PMID38654605
PMCPMC11107128
OpenAlexW4395077809

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.