Delivery of health care at the end of life in cancer patients of four swiss cantons a retrospective database study (SAKK 89/09)

Matter-Walstra, Klazien W; Achermann, Rita; Rapold, Roland; Klingbiel, Dirk; Bordoni, Andrea; Dehler, Silvia; Jundt, Gernot; Konzelmann, Isabelle; Clough-Gorr, Kerri M; Szucs, Thomas; Schwenkglenks, Matthias; Pestalozzi, Bernhard C (2014). Delivery of health care at the end of life in cancer patients of four swiss cantons a retrospective database study (SAKK 89/09). BMC cancer, 14(1), p. 306. BioMed Central 10.1186/1471-2407-14-306

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Background

The use of cancer related therapy in cancer patients at the end-of-life has increased over time in many countries. Given a lack of published Swiss data, the objective of this study was to describe delivery of health care during the last month before death of cancer patients.

Methods

Claims data were used to assess health care utilization of cancer patients (identified by cancer registry data of four participating cantons), deceased between 2006-2008. Primary endpoints were hospitalization rate and delivery of cancer related therapies during the last 30 days before death. Multivariate logistic regression assessed the explanatory value of patient and geographic characteristics.

Results

3809 identified cancer patients were included. Hospitalization rate (mean 68.5%, 95%CI 67.0-69.9) and percentage of patients receiving anti-cancer drug therapies (ACDT, mean 14.5%, 95%CI 13.4-15.6) and radiotherapy (mean 7.7%, 95%CI 6.7-8.4) decreased with age. Canton of residence and insurance type status most significantly influenced the odds for hospitalization or receiving ACDT.

Conclusions

The intensity of cancer specific care showed substantial variation by age, cancer type, place of residence and insurance type status. This may be partially driven by cultural differences within Switzerland and the cantonal organization of the Swiss health care system.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

UniBE Contributor:

Clough, Kerri

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services

ISSN:

1471-2407

Publisher:

BioMed Central

Language:

English

Submitter:

Doris Kopp Heim

Date Deposited:

01 Sep 2014 15:37

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:34

Publisher DOI:

10.1186/1471-2407-14-306

PubMed ID:

24885104

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.52380

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/52380

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