Utilisation of hospital-based specialist palliative care in patients with gynaecological cancer: Temporal trends, predictors and association with high-intensity end-of-life care

Objective. To examine hospital-based specialist palliative care (SPC) utilisation among patients with gynaecological cancer, including temporal trends, predictors and associations with high-intensity end-of-life care.Methods. We conducted a nationwide registry-based study for all patients dying from gynaecological cancer in Denmark during 2010-2016. We estimated the proportions of patients receiving SPC by year of death and used regression analyses to examine predictors of SPC utilisation. Use of high-intensity end-of-life care according to SPC utilisation was compared by regression analyses adjusting for type of gynaecological cancer, year of death, age, comorbidities, residential region, marital/cohabitation status, income level and migrant status. Results. Among 4502 patients dying from gynaecological cancer, the proportion of patients receiving SPC in-creased from 24.2% in 2010 to 50.7% in 2016. Young age, three or more comorbidities, residence outside the Cap-ital Region and being immigrant/descendant were associated with increased SPC utilisation, whereas income, cancer type and stage were not. SPC was associated with lower high-intensity end-of-life care utilisation. Particularly, when compared with pa-tients not receiving SPC, patients who accessed SPC >30 days before death had 88% lower risk of intensive care unit admissions within 30 days before death (adjusted relative risk: 0.12 (95% CI: 0.06; 0.24)) and 96% lower risk of surgery within 14 days before death (adjusted relative risk: 0.04 (95% CI: 0.01; 0.31)). Conclusions. Among patients dying from gynaecological cancer, SPC utilisation increased over time and age, comorbidities, residential region and migrant status were associated with access to SPC. Furthermore, SPC was associated with lower use of high-intensity end-of-life care.(c) 2023 Published by Elsevier Inc.