title: Differences in end-of-life care decision making between patients with and without cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most patients and families do not want invasive life-sustaining procedures when recovery is unlikely. We compared the clinical features of advance directives (ADs) of patients with and without cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  The ADs were obtained from retrospectively reviewing electronic medical records of 699 consecutive patients who died from April 2011 to July 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with cancer were more likely to have written ADs: 265 (85.8%) patients with cancer and 277 (71.0%) noncancer patients (P < .001). Significantly more noncancer patients were in the intensive care unit, indicating that they had received or were receiving invasive treatments. Noncancer patients requested life-sustaining treatment more frequently but symptom control less frequently than patients with cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Advance care planning in patients with incurable, noncancer disease is important to guarantee patient autonomy at the end of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of internal medicine, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: In Ki
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea Hospice & palliative care center, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.affiliation: Department of internal medicine, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sung Jae
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of internal medicine, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ga Jin
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Hospice & palliative care center, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sung-Ja
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Hospice & palliative care center, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Aeran
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea Hospice & palliative care center, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea syoh@medimail.co.kr.
authors.forename: So Yeon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Oh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D032722:Advance Care Planning; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: advance care planning; advance directives; cancer; end-of-life care; hospice; palliative care