Determining prognosis and predicting survival in end-of-life care.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to review some recent studies referred to prognosis factors and our capacity to predict death during the final stages of disease.


RESULTS
Recent studies show significant approaches through the use of some instruments (especially self-assessment tools), which we will analyze herein.


CONCLUSIONS
In many cases of clinical practice, this prediction capacity based on solid elements may be key to determine or contraindicate certain therapeutic resources. Such is the case, for example, when it is necessary to define the transfer of a patient to a proper specialized center, under family or legal circumstances demanding a clarification on this point, or for handling the dialog with the patients and/or their relatives. According to recent findings, we should include some elements of self-assessment in our instruments to predict death in palliative care.
Yanneo
Eduardo García
EG
Palliative Care Unit, Oncology Department, University Hospital, Montevideo, Uruguay. eduardouruguay@hotmail.com
D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods*; D019452:Terminally Ill