Department of Healthcare Administration, College of Business, Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX, USA.
Division of Cancer Control and Policy, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Republic of Korea.
BMC Palliat Care. 2022 Jul 27;21(1):136. doi: 10.1186/s12904-022-01026-y.
The benefits of palliative care for cancer patients were well developed; however, the characteristics of receiving palliative care and the utilization patterns among lung cancer patients have not been explored using a large-scale representative population-based sample.
The National Inpatient Sample of the United States was used to identify deceased metastatic lung cancer patients (n = 5,068, weighted n = 25,121) from 2010 to 2014. We examined the characteristics of receiving palliative care use and the association between palliative care and healthcare utilization, measured by discounted hospital charges and LOS (length of stay). The multivariate survey logistic regression model (to identify predictors for receipts of palliative care) and the survey linear regression model (to measure how palliative care is associated with healthcare utilization) were used.
Among 25,121 patients, 50.1% had palliative care during the study period. Survey logistic results showed that patients with higher household income were more likely to receive palliative care than those in lower-income groups. In addition, during hospitalization, receiving palliative care was associated with11.2% lower LOS and 28.4% lower discounted total charges than the non-receiving group.
Clinical evidence demonstrates the benefits of palliative care as it is associated with efficient end-of-life healthcare utilization. Health policymakers must become aware of the characteristics of receiving the care and the importance of limited healthcare resource allocation as palliative care continues to grow in cancer treatment.
癌症患者接受姑息治疗的益处已得到充分证实；然而，利用大规模代表性人群样本探索肺癌患者接受姑息治疗的特点和利用模式尚未得到研究。
本研究利用美国国家住院患者样本，从 2010 年至 2014 年确定了 5068 例（加权 n=25121）死亡转移性肺癌患者。我们研究了接受姑息治疗的特点，以及姑息治疗与医疗保健利用之间的关联，用折扣后住院费用和 LOS（住院时间）来衡量。采用多变量调查逻辑回归模型（确定接受姑息治疗的预测因素）和调查线性回归模型（测量姑息治疗与医疗保健利用的关联）。
在 25121 例患者中，50.1%的患者在研究期间接受了姑息治疗。调查逻辑回归结果表明，与低收入组相比，高收入家庭的患者更有可能接受姑息治疗。此外，在住院期间，接受姑息治疗的患者的 LOS 比未接受姑息治疗的患者低 11.2%，折扣后总费用低 28.4%。
临床证据表明姑息治疗的益处，因为它与高效的临终医疗保健利用相关。随着姑息治疗在癌症治疗中的应用不断增加，卫生政策制定者必须认识到接受姑息治疗的特点以及有限的医疗资源分配的重要性。
