Effects of early exposure to palliative care on end-of-life outcomes in patients with cancer in a community setting

Objective Although prior studies show that exposure to early outpatient palliative care (OPC) versus no exposure is associated with improved outcomes at the end of life (EoL) for patients with cancer, few examined the impact of exposure to OPC prior to home-based palliative care (HBPC) on EoL outcomes. This study compares the effect of OPC prior to HBPC versus HBPC alone on EoL outcomes in patients with cancer.Methods A secondary analysis of data from a trial comparing two models of HBPC was performed on patients with primary cancer diagnoses. Adjusted negative binomial and logistic regression models were used to compare days in acute care and intensive care unit stays in the last 30 days, chemotherapy administration in the last 14 days and in-hospital deaths between patients who received standard-dose (4+ encounters) and low-dose (<4 encounters) OPC plus HBPC versus HBPC alone.Results A total of 1187 patients, 483 (40.1%) of whom had OPC+HBPC and 704 (59.3%) who had HBPC alone were included in the analyses. Compared with patients who had HBPC alone, patients who had standard-dose OPC spent fewer days in acute care (4.29 vs 4.19, p=0.04) and fewer days inpatient (3.45 vs 3.09, p=0.03) in the last 30 days of life. No difference was seen in EoL outcomes in patients exposed to low-dose OPC compared with those with HBPC alone. Receipt of hospice after HBPC was strongly associated with improved EoL outcomes.Conclusion Future research is needed to examine the modality, timing and intensity of palliative care necessary to effect EoL outcomes.