Journal Article DKFZ-2021-01440

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png
Aggressiveness of Care at the End-of-Life in Cancer Patients and Its Association With Psychosocial Functioning in Bereaved Caregivers.

 ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;

2021
Frontiers Media Lausanne

Frontiers in oncology 11, 673147 () [10.3389/fonc.2021.673147]
 GO

This record in other databases:  

Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:

Abstract: https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00022837,DRKS00022837.Intensified oncological treatment for advanced cancer patients at the end-of-life has been specified as aggressiveness of care (AOC) and increased over the past decades. The aims of this study were to 1) determine the frequency of AOC in Central Europe, and 2) investigate differences in mental health outcomes in bereaved caregivers depending on whether the decedent had experienced AOC or not.We conducted a cross-sectional study in a large tertiary comprehensive cancer care center in Germany. Bereaved caregivers provided information about (a) treatment within the last month of life of the deceased cancer patient and (b) their own mental health status, i.e., decision regret, complicated grief, depression, and anxiety. After multiple imputation of missing data, differences in mental health outcomes between AOC-caregivers and non-AOC-caregivers were analyzed in a multivariate analysis of variances.We enrolled 298 bereaved caregivers of deceased cancer patients. AOC occurred in 30.9% of all patients. In their last month of life, 20.0% of all patients started a new chemotherapy regimen, and 13.8% received ICU-treatment. We found differences in mental health outcomes between bereaved AOC- and non-AOC-caregivers. Bereaved AOC caregivers experienced significantly more decision regret compared to non-AOC caregivers (Cohen's d = 0.49, 95% CI [0.23, 0.76]).AOC occurs frequently in European health care and is associated with poorer mental health outcomes in bereaved caregivers. Future cohort studies should substantiate these findings and explore specific trajectories related to AOC. Notwithstanding, shared-decision making at end-of-life should increasingly account for both patients' and caregivers' preferences.

Keyword(s): aggressiveness of care ; cancer ; caregivers ; mental health ; multivariate analysis of variance ; regret

Classification:

Contributing Institute(s):
  1. C020 Epidemiologie von Krebs (C020)
Research Program(s):
  1. 313 - Krebsrisikofaktoren und Prävention (POF4-313) (POF4-313)

Appears in the scientific report 2021
Database coverage:
Medline ; Creative Commons Attribution CC BY (No Version) ; DOAJ ; Article Processing Charges ; Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List ; Current Contents - Clinical Medicine ; DOAJ Seal ; Essential Science Indicators ; Fees ; IF < 5 ; JCR ; PubMed Central ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Web of Science Core Collection
Click to display QR Code for this record

The record appears in these collections:
Document types > Articles > Journal Article
Institute Collections > C020
Public records
Publications database

 Record created 2021-06-28, last modified 2024-02-29


Rate this document:

Rate this document:
1
2
3
 
(Not yet reviewed)