Are Cancer Patients' Socioeconomic and Cultural Factors Associated with Contact to General Practitioners in the Last Phase of Life?

The use and timing of rehabilitation and palliative care to cancer patients, and the influence of social vulnerability - a population-based study

OBJECTIVES

To identify and investigate different cohorts of cancer patients' use of physical rehabilitation and specialised palliative care (SPC) services, focusing on patients with incurable cancer and the impact of social vulnerability.

METHODS

The sample originated from patients diagnosed during 2013-2018 and alive 1 January 2015. Use of physical rehabilitation and/or SPC units were identified from contacts registered in population-based administrative databases. Competing-risks regression models were applied to investigate disparities with regard to social vulnerability, disease duration, gender and age.

RESULTS

A total of 101 268 patients with cancer were included and 60 125 survived longer than 3 years after their diagnosis. Among the 41 143 patients, who died from cancer, 66%, survived less than 1 year, 23% survived from 1 to 2 years and 11% survived from 2 to 3 years. Contacts regarding physical rehabilitation services appeared in the entire cancer trajectory, whereas contacts regarding SPC showed a steep increase as time drew closer to death. The largest disparity was related to disease duration. Socially vulnerable patients had less contact with SPC, while a larger proportion of the socially vulnerable cancer survivors used rehabilitation, compared with the non-vulnerable patients.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides a previously unseen detailed overview of the use of physical rehabilitation and/or SPC among patients with incurable cancer. The services appeared to overlap at a group level in the cancer trajectory, emphasising the importance of awareness with regard to coordination and combination of the services. Disparities between socially vulnerable or non-vulnerable patients were identified.

Higher overall admittance of immigrants to specialised palliative care in Denmark: a nationwide register-based study of 99,624 patients with cancer

BACKGROUND

The population of immigrants in Europe is ageing. Accordingly, the number of immigrants with life-threatening diseases and need for specialised palliative care will increase. In Europe, immigrants' admittance to specialised palliative care is not well explored.

AIM

To investigate whether country of origin was associated with admittance to (I) palliative care team/unit, (II) hospice, and/or (III) specialised palliative care, overall (i.e. palliative care team/unit and/or hospice).

DESIGN

Data sources for the population cohort study were the Danish Palliative Care Database and several nationwide registers. We investigated the associations between country of origin and admittance to specialised palliative care, overall, and to type of palliative care using logistic regression analyses.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS

In 2010-2016, 104,775 cancer patients died in Denmark: 96% were born in Denmark, 2% in other Western countries, and 2% in non-Western countries.

RESULTS

Overall admittance to specialised palliative care was higher for immigrants from other Western (OR = 1.13; 95%CI: 1.03-1.24) and non-Western countries (OR = 1.22; 95%CI: 1.08-1.37) than for the majority population. Similar results were found for admittance to palliative care teams. No difference in admittance to hospice was found for immigrants from other Western countries (OR = 1.04; 95%CI: 0.93-1.16) compared to the majority population, while lower admittance was found for non-Western immigrants (OR = 0.70; 95%CI: 0.60-0.81).

CONCLUSION

Admittance to specialised palliative care was higher for immigrants than for the majority population as higher admittance to palliative care teams for non-Western immigrants more than compensated for the lower hospice admittance. This may reflect a combination of larger needs and that hospital-based and home-based services are perceived as preferable by immigrants.

The end of life experiences of people living with socio-economic deprivation in the developed world: an integrative review

Background

Those experiencing socioeconomic deprivation have poorer quality of health throughout their life course which can result in poorer quality of death – with decreased access to palliative care services, greater use of acute care, and reduced access to preferred place of care compared with patients from less deprived populations.

Aim

To summarise the current global evidence from developed countries on end-of-life experience for those living with socio-economic deprivation.

Design

Integrative review in accordance with PRISMA. A thorough search of major databases from 2010–2020, using clear definitions of end-of-life care and well-established proxy indicators of socio-economic deprivation. Empirical research describing experience of adult patients in the last year of life care were included.

Results

Forty studies were included from a total of 3508 after screening and selection. These were deemed to be of high quality; from a wide range of countries with varying healthcare systems; and encompassed all palliative care settings for patients with malignant and non-malignant diagnoses. Three global themes were identified: 1) multi-dimensional symptom burden, 2) preferences and planning and 3) health and social care interactions at the end of life.

Conclusions

Current models of healthcare services are not meeting the needs of those experiencing socioeconomic deprivation at the end-of-life. Further work is needed to understand the disparity in care, particularly around ensuring patients voices are heard and can influence service development and delivery.

General practitioners' provision of end-of-life care and associations with dying at home: a registry-based longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

General practitioners (GPs) may play an important role in providing end-of-life care to community-dwelling people.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate patients' contacts with GPs, GPs' interdisciplinary collaboration, out-of-hours services and hospitalizations in the last 13 weeks of life and associations with dying at home. Second, investigate whether GP contacts were associated with fewer out-of-hours contacts or days hospitalized.

METHODS

Individually linked data from the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry, Norwegian Patient Registry, Statistics Norway and Control and Payment of Reimbursement to Health Service Providers database for all 80 813 deceased people in Norway within 2012-13. Outcomes were analyzed with logistic regression and negative binomial multilevel mixed-effect models.

RESULTS

Overall, 1% of people received GP home visits in Week 13 and 4.6% in the last week before death. During the last 4 weeks of life, 9.2% received one or more GP home visits. Altogether, 6.6% received one or more home visits when the GP had one or more interdisciplinary collaborations during the last 4 weeks, of which <3% died at home. GP office consultations decreased towards the end of life. The likelihood of home death versus another location increased in relation to GP home visits [one home visit odds ratio (OR) 1.92, confidence interval (CI) 1.71-2.15; two or more OR 3.49, CI 3.08-3.96] and GP interdisciplinary collaboration (one contact OR 1.76, CI 1.59-1.96; two or more OR 2.52, CI 2.32-2.74).

CONCLUSIONS

GPs play a role in enabling people to die at home by performing home visits and collaborating with other health care personnel. Only a minority received such services in Norway.

Social disparities and symptom burden in populations with advanced cancer: specialist palliative care providers' perspectives

Disparities in access to palliative care services for populations with social disparities have been reported in Western countries. Studies indicate that these populations tend to report higher symptom distress than other population groups. We need to further investigate how social disparities influence symptom burden to improve symptom relief in these populations.

PURPOSE

To examine the perspectives of specialist palliative care providers concerning the relationship between social disparities and symptom burden in populations with advanced cancer.

METHODS

Two sequential qualitative studies that followed a combination of interpretive and critical methodologies. The interpretive approach was outlined by van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology while the critical component was informed by the works of Paulo Freire. Participants involved two specialist palliative care teams from a large acute care hospital and a large cancer center in Western Canada. Participants included 11 palliative care providers including registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, and pharmacists.

RESULTS

Participants perceived that social conditions that might aggravate symptom burden included low income, low education, lack of social support, language barriers, and rurality. The relationship between income and symptom burden reflected diverse views. Participants identified populations prone to complex symptom burden including homeless individuals, Indigenous people, people with a history of addictions, and people with mental health or psychosocial issues.

CONCLUSION

Participants perceived that social disparities may increase symptom complexity in populations with advanced cancer. Participants did not identify ethnicity and gender as influencing symptom burden. Further research is needed to examine the interactions of social disparities, patient individuality, and symptom burden.

Danish general practitioners' self-reported competences in end-of-life care

OBJECTIVE

General practitioners (GPs) are pivotal in end-of-life (EOL) care. This study aimed to assess GP-reported provision of EOL care and to assess associations with GP characteristics.

DESIGN

Population-based questionnaire study.

SETTING

Central Denmark Region with approximately 1.3 million inhabitants.

SUBJECTS

All 843 active GPs in the Central Denmark Region were sent a questionnaire by mail.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Responses to 18 items concerning four aspects: provision of EOL care to patients with different diagnosis, confidence with being a key worker, organisation of EOL care and EOL skills (medical and psychosocial).

RESULTS

In total, 573 (68%) GPs responded. Of these, 85% often/always offered EOL care to cancer patients, which was twice as often as to patients with non-malignancies (34-40%). Moreover, 76% felt confident about being a key worker, 60% had a proactive approach, and 58% talked to their patients about dying. Only 9% kept a register of patients with EOL needs, and 19% had specific EOL procedures. GP confidence with own EOL skills varied; from 55% feeling confident using terminal medications to 90% feeling confident treating nausea/vomiting. Increasing GP age was associated with increased confidence about being a key worker and provision of EOL care to patients with non-malignancies. In rural areas, GPs were more confident about administering medicine subcutaneously than in urban areas.

CONCLUSION

We found considerable diversity in self-reported EOL care competences. Interventions should focus on increasing GPs' provision of EOL care to patients with non-malignancies, promoting better EOL care concerning organisation and symptom management. KEY POINTS GPs are pivotal in end-of-life (EOL) care, but their involvement has been questioned. Hence, GPs' perceived competencies were explored. GPs were twice as likely to provide EOL care for patients with cancer than for patients with non-malignancies. EOL care was lacking clear organisation in general practice in terms of registering palliative patients and having specific EOL procedures. GPs were generally least confident with their skills in terminal medical treatment, for example, using medicine administered subcutaneously.