title: Clinical outcomes in terminally ill patients admitted to hospice care: diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.
abstract: This study's aim was to determine the impact of medical technologies on patient comfort and survival time, through retrospective review of the clinical course, symptom profile, and illness trajectory in 102 consecutive patients (50 males and 52 females), and of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions delivered to them. The average age of males was 72.3 years and of females 73.1 years. Ninety-four patients were admitted for palliation of symptoms due to malignant disease and eight other patients for non-malignant diseases. The median survival time was 12 days. On admission, higher univariate hazard risks for survival were significantly associated with male gender, metastatic disease, and dyspnea. Higher adjusted Charlson comorbidity scores were associated with significantly decreased survival time, while de novo symptoms and diagnostic interventions were associated with lower univariate risk rates and increased survival times. Palliative therapeutic interventions were not significantly associated with increased patient survival. A multivariate analysis showed that pain, dyspnea, immobility, and adjusted Charlson comorbidity scores were independent risks for shorter patient survival times. Diagnostic interventions were significant for increased patient survival. No requests for euthanasia had been recorded, which may, in part, reflect the significant family support most of these patients had received.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vitetta
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kenner
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kissane
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sali
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D017051:Hospice Care; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014739:Victoria / Q000453:epidemiology