Lock Anna, Higginson Irene
Coventry Community Palliative Care Team, 25 Warwick Road, Grey Friars Lane, Coventry, CV1 2GQ, UK.
BMC Palliat Care. 2005 Oct 8;4:6. doi: 10.1186/1472-684X-4-6.
Cancer patients increasingly are among older age groups, but to date little work has examined the trends in cancer among older people, particularly in relation to end of life care and death. This study describes the older population who die of cancer and the factors which may affect their place of death.
A Cross-sectional analysis of national data was performed. The study included all people aged 75 and over dying of cancer in England and Wales between 1995 and 1999. The population was divided into exclusive 5 year age cohorts, up to 100 years and over. Descriptive analysis explored demographic characteristics, cancer type and place of death.
Between 1995 and 1999, 315,462 people aged 75 and over were registered as dying from cancer. The number who died increased each year slightly over the 5 year period (1.2%). In the 75-79 age group, 55 % were men, in those aged 100 and over this fell to 16%. On reaching their hundreds, the most common cause of death for men was malignancies of the genital organs; and for women it was breast cancer. The most frequent place of death for women in their hundreds was the care home; for men it was hospitals. Those dying from lymphatic and haematopoietic malignancies were most likely to die in hospitals, those with head and neck malignancies in hospices and breast cancer patients in a care home.
The finding of rising proportions of cancer deaths in institutions with increasing age suggests a need to ensure that appropriate high quality care is available to this growing section of the population.
癌症患者越来越多地出现在老年人群体中，但迄今为止，很少有研究探讨老年人患癌的趋势，特别是与临终关怀和死亡相关的趋势。本研究描述了死于癌症的老年人群体以及可能影响其死亡地点的因素。
对国家数据进行横断面分析。该研究纳入了1995年至1999年间在英格兰和威尔士所有75岁及以上死于癌症的人。将人群分为5年一个年龄段的独立队列，直至100岁及以上。描述性分析探讨了人口统计学特征、癌症类型和死亡地点。
1995年至1999年间，有315462名75岁及以上的人登记死于癌症。在这5年期间，死亡人数每年略有增加（1.2%）。在75-79岁年龄组中，55%为男性，在100岁及以上的人群中，这一比例降至16%。到了百岁时，男性最常见的死因是生殖器官恶性肿瘤；女性则是乳腺癌。百岁女性最常见的死亡地点是养老院；男性是医院。死于淋巴和造血系统恶性肿瘤的人最有可能在医院死亡，头颈部恶性肿瘤患者在临终关怀机构死亡，乳腺癌患者在养老院死亡。
随着年龄增长，机构内癌症死亡比例上升的这一发现表明，需要确保为这一不断增长的人群提供适当的高质量护理。
