ArticlePublic health action2026
Why do cancer patients die? A decade of experience on trends, profile, causes, and timing of deaths in India.
Article in Public health action, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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10 authors.
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Abstract
settingMedical oncology department in a tertiary care hospital, South India.
objectiveTo evaluate trends, profile, causes, and timing of inpatient deaths among cancer patients between 2016 and 2025.
designA cohort study using secondary data from electronic medical records.
resultsThere were 474 inpatient deaths. Despite an 11-fold increase in annual admissions (119 to 1,355), inpatient mortality rates remained relatively stable (range 4%-10%). Mean age at death was 63 years (+12), 64% were male, 73% had metastases, and 84% had poor performance status. Most patients (78%) were emergency admissions, 41% utilised palliative care services, and 75% consented to no end-of-life support. Leading immediate causes of death were cancer progression (57%), organ failure (21%), and sepsis (15%), and the leading underlying cause of death was cancer progression (83%). Median time from admission to death was 5 days (interquartile range: 2-10). Admission for treatment-related complications (adjusted relative risk [aRR]: 10.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.7-32.3) and no consent for end-of-life support (aRR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.1-6.0) predicted treatment-related deaths, while recent systemic therapy (aRR: 0.7, 95% CI: 0.5-0.97) protected against early death.
conclusionCancer progression predominates as the cause of inpatient mortality. Despite increasing admissions over 10 years, inpatient mortality rates remained stable. Nevertheless, preventing treatment-related deaths and integrating palliative care early remain critical quality-of-care priorities.
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