title: Analysis of sociodemographic parameters of patients admitted in a newly established palliative care center in a regional cancer institute of north-west India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  After 4 months of the establishment of palliative care center (PCC) in our institute, we present an audit of the sociodemographic parameters of admitted patients. Such an audit can help to recognize the lacuna in the management and thus help to identify the specific requirements of cancer patients that might be overlooked in a busy cancer center.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 234 patients were admitted in our PCC since its inception in October 2013. The study design was retrospective, collecting the data from the medical records of the patients. The descriptive statistics of all these data were calculated in terms of frequencies and percentage of categorical variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 234 patients admitted in PCC, 156 (66%) were male. The median age of the patients was 54 years. A total of 44% patients had primary malignancy of head and neck, 14% of cervical, 17% of lung cancer, 6% of breast, and 5% of colon, respectively. Metastatic disease was present in 76% of the patients admitted in the PCC. Liver was the most common (46%) metastatic site. Total 13 symptoms were identified with mean number of symptoms per patient at admission in PCC being 5.17.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Palliative care services are an indispensable part of a tertiary regional cancer care center. The oncologists should be made aware of the requirement of better relief of pain and other distressing symptoms to provide better quality of life to the patients suffering from advanced cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Institute, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Mukesh Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Singhal
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Institute, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Akhil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kapoor
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Institute, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Puneet Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Bagri
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Institute, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Daleep
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Institute, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Raj Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Nirban
authors.affiliation: MBBS Internee, Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Narender
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Institute, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Harvindra Singh
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kumar
keywords: North-West India; Palliative cancer center; Regional cancer center; Sociodemographic parameters