Exploring factors associated with emergency department attendance by patients with cancer in their last month of life
24th June 2015
Multiple emergency department visits by patients with cancer towards the end of life are associated with poor outcomes for patients and their significant others. Identifying risk factors associated with visits to an emergency department may help in the development of future strategies to reduce avoidable visits. As part of the BuildCARE programme, researchers at the Cicely Saunders Institute conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of factors associated with multiple emergency department visits in the last month of life. Their findings, published in the February 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (2015;4:370-376), included the following factors associated with an increased risk of multiple ED visits:
- Male gender (odds ratio 1.24);
- Black race (odds ratio 1.45 compared with white race);
- Lung cancer (odds ratio 1.17, with reference to other cancers); and
- Lowest socioeconomic group (odds ratio 1.15, with reference to highest socioeconomic status).
They also found that cancer patients receiving palliative care were less likely to attend the emergency department in their last month of life (odds ratio 0.50), versus those not receiving palliative care.