AsianScientist (Apr. 15, 2016) – A large study from Japan has found that cancer patients who died at home tended to live longer than those who died in hospitals. Published in Cancer, the findings suggest that oncologists should not hesitate to refer patients for home-based palliative care—simply because less medical treatment may be provided.
Most people say that they would prefer to be cared for at home if they were dying, but it’s unclear if the care they receive there would be as good as the care delivered at a hospital. Dr. Jun Hamano of the University of Tsukuba in Japan, and his colleagues looked at the issue by prospectively studying over 2,000 patients, comprising patients receiving hospital- or home-based palliative care.
The investigators found that the survival of patients who died at home was significantly longer than that of patients who died in hospitals, even after adjusting for patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as other factors.
“The cancer patient and family tend to be concerned that the quality of medical treatment provided at home will be inferior to that given in a hospital and that survival might be shortened,” said Hamano.
“However, our finding—that home death does not actually have a negative influence on the survival of cancer patients at all, and rather may have a positive influence—could suggest that the patient and family can choose the place of death in terms of their preference and values.”
Hamano added that patients, families, and clinicians should be reassured that good home hospice care does not shorten patient life, and even may achieve longer survival.
The article can be found at: Hamano et al. (2016) Multicenter Cohort Study on the Survival Time of Cancer Patients Dying at Home or in a Hospital: Does Place Matter?
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Source: Wiley; Photo: Shutterstock.
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