1. Preference of end-of-life discussion at diagnosis in patients with advanced/recurrent cancer
- Author
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Yasunari Sakamoto, Aiko Maejima, Tatsuya Morita, Hiroko Bando, Chikako Shimizu, Takuji Okusaka, Eriko Tokunaga, Masayuki Furukawa, Saran Yoshida, Ken Shimizu, Kenjiro Aogi, Hiroyuki Otani, and S. Kudo
- Subjects
Cancer Research ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Oncology ,business.industry ,Internal medicine ,Recurrent Cancer ,Medicine ,In patient ,business ,Preference - Abstract
e21511 Background: End-of-life discussion (EOLd) including information about incurability, prognosis, the site of death, and do-not-resuscitate (DNR) status is considered indispensable for advanced care planning (ACP). However, the preference for EOLd in cancer patients has not been elucidated. Objective: To clarify the preferences of EOLd in Japanese patients with newly diagnosed advanced or recurrent cancer. Methods: A multi-center questionnaire survey was conducted on Japanese adult patients with breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, or sarcoma, who were diagnosed as incurable within the past three months. We asked patients whether they would like to have EOLd with their physician at the time of survey. Factors related to preferences of EOLd were analyzed using chi-square or Mann-Whitney U-test. Results: For 1 year from August 2015, we distributed the questionnaire to 251 patients at five centers. Responses were obtained from 159 patients (45 males, 113 females) (response rate: 63%). The median age was 65 years (range: 29-86). 93 patients (59%) answered they would like to have EOLd, while 60 patients (38%) answered they would not. In univariate analyses, elderly patients (odds ratio [OR]: 1.03; p = 0.027), patients having worse performance status (OR: 1.988; p = 0.03), and with any physical symptoms (OR: 1.533; p = 0.044) preferred to have EOLd. On the other hand, patients who perceived “being able to sufficiently fight the disease” ( p = 0.021) and “living without being aware of the disease” ( p = 0.004) as important were reluctant to have EOLd. 114 patients (72%) answered they wanted to know their life-time prognosis. Employed patients preferred to know their prognosis (OR: 8.919; p = 0.004) while patients who had received chemotherapy did not (OR: 0.313; p = 0.009). Conclusions: Even just after the diagnosis as an incurable disease, more than half of patients with advanced cancer were willing to have EOLd with their treating physician. Patients’ preference of knowing about life-time prognosis was affected by their social and medical experience.
- Published
- 2017
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