Predicting Place of Death of Elderly Cancer Patients Followed by a Palliative Care Unit

Abstract

To determine the predictors of death outside the palliative care system for elderly cancer patients who were followed by a palliative care unit (PCU), a retrospective review of 199 charts was performed. Comorbidities, current neoplastic disease (location of tumor, months since diagnosis, number of days of PCU follow-up), symptoms, drug use, and social support were recorded. Place of death was not significantly different among sexes. Factors predicting death in the general hospital for men were digestive comorbidities, vomiting, and weakness. For women, disease of the senses was predictive. Although there were no significant differences with respect to place of death between sexes in an older cancer population followed by a PCU, the factors that predicted which patients will die in the hospital for men were generally related to their medical condition, whereas the predictive factors for women were mainly related to functional dependency and social support. Social support had a trend towards predicting the place of death in women.