Most adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer received medically intensive end-of-life (EOL) care measures, according to an article published online in the journal JAMA Oncology.
The authors studied the health records of 663 AYAs who were diagnosed with either stage 1 to 3 cancer and evidence of recurrence or stage 4 cancer in the Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KSPC) registry. All patients died before the age of 40 (time of death age range, 15-39 years) between 2001 and 2010.
Results showed 72 (11%) out of the 663 patients were administered chemotherapy within 14 days of death. One hundred forty-four (22%) of AYAs were admitted to the intensive care unit, 147 (22%) visited the emergency department more than once, and 413 (62%) had a hospitalization in the last 30 days of life.
Furthermore, 449 of the 663 (68%) AYA patients with cancer received at least one medically intensive EOL care measure.
The study advocates for a better understanding of EOL care in the AYA population.
Cancer is the leading disease-related cause of death among adolescents and young adults, but little is known about the care that AYA patients with cancer receive at the end of life.
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From oncology.jamanetwork.com
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