ArticleCancer medicine2026
Assessing the Impact of Specialist Palliative Care on Healthcare Utilisation at the End of Life Among Patients With Pancreatic Cancer: A Nationwide Register-Based Cohort Study.
Article in Cancer medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Integration of early palliative care in cancer treatment: a meta-analysis of 39 randomized controlled trials on clinical outcomes and management optimization.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionAdvanced pancreatic cancer is often a rapidly progressing malignancy causing high symptom burden. The objective of this study was to assess the association of specialist palliative care (SPC) and its timing with healthcare resource utilisation at the end of life.
methodsThis nationwide retrospective study which covers the whole population of Finland included all 1199 patients who died of pancreatic cancer in 2019. Data were obtained from national registries. Patients were categorised into two groups based on the timing of their first contact with SPC: Group I (> 30 days before death), and Group II (≤ 30 days before death or no contact).
resultsAmong 1199 patients, 438 (36%) had a SPC contact, and median time from the first contact to death was 51 days. Contact with a SPC occurred > 30 days before death for 22.5% of the patients (n = 270). Having an earlier contact with SPC (Group I) was significantly associated with fewer secondary care hospitalisations (25% vs. 56%, p < 0.001) and fewer emergency department (ED) contacts (50% vs. 61%, p < 0.001) during the last month of life. In addition, patients in Group I were more likely to receive hospital-at-home services (44% vs. 9%, p < 0.001) and to receive care in SPC wards (23% vs. 5%, p < 0.001). Most of the patients died in hospital (56% vs. 79%, p < 0.001), but death in SPC ward (22% vs. 5%, p < 0.001) or at home (19% vs. 13%, p < 0.014) was more likely for patients in Group I.
conclusionLower secondary healthcare utilisation and ED contacts during the last month of life, and higher probability of dying in SPC ward or at home, were observed in patients who had an earlier SPC contact. Integration of SPC in time should be ensured for all patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.
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