title: Hospital admission of cancer patients: avoidable practice or necessary care?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cancer patients are frequently admitted to hospital due to acute conditions or refractory symptoms. This occurs through the emergency departments and requires medical oncologists to take an active role. The use of acute-care hospital increases in the last months of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  We aimed to describe the admissions to a medical oncology inpatient service within a 16-month period with respect to patients and tumor characteristics, and the outcome of the hospital stay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  672 admissions of 454 patients were analysed. The majority of admissions were urgent (74.1%), and were due to uncontrolled symptoms (79.6%). Among the chief complaints, dyspnoea occurred in 15.7%, pain in 15.2%, and neurological symptoms in 14.5%. The majority of the hospitalizations resulted in discharge to home (60.6%); in 26.5% the patient died and in 11.0% was transferred to a hospice. Admissions due to symptoms correlated with a longer hospital stay and a higher incidence of in-hospital death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest that hospital use is not necessarily a sign of inappropriately aggressive care: inpatient care is probably an unavoidable step in the cancer trajectory. Optimization of inpatient supportive procedures should be a specific task of modern medical oncology.
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Gianmauro
authors: G
authors: Numico
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Antonella
authors: A
authors: Cristofano
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Alessandro
authors: A
authors: Mozzicafreddo
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Olga Elisabetta
authors: OE
authors: Cursio
authors: University of Torino, Department of Oncology, Radiation Oncology Unit, Corso Bramante 88, 10126 Torino, Italy.
authors: Pierfrancesco
authors: P
authors: Franco
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Giulia
authors: G
authors: Courthod
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Antonio
authors: A
authors: Trogu
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Alessandra
authors: A
authors: Malossi
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Mariella
authors: M
authors: Cucchi
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Zuzana
authors: Z
authors: Sirotovà
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Maria Rosa
authors: MR
authors: Alvaro
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Stella
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Fulvia
authors: F
authors: Grasso
authors: Medical Oncology and Hematology, Azienda USL della Valle d'Aosta, Viale Ginevra 3, 11100 Aosta, Italy.
authors: Silvia
authors: S
authors: Spinazzé
authors: Medical Oncology Unit, National Cancer Research Center, Istituto Tumori "Giovanni Paolo II", Viale Orazio Flacco 65, 70124 Bari, Italy.
authors: Nicola
authors: N
authors: Silvestris
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010166:Palliative Care