Trends in End-of-Life ICU Use Among Older Adults With Advanced Lung Cancer

Abstract

Background-There is increasing concern about the appropriateness of intensive medical care near the end of life in ICUs throughout the United States. As a result of hospice expansion in the 1990s, we hypothesized that ICU use decreased over time in older adults with advanced lung cancer.

Quality of End-of-Life Care Between Medical Oncologists and Other Physician Specialists for Taiwanese Cancer Decedents, 2001–2006

“…However, the appropriateness of administering chemotherapy close to death should be carefully evaluated [52], given that receiving chemotherapy at the EOL is not influenced by the cancer's responsiveness to chemotherapy [41] and that the more intense use of chemotherapy by medical oncologists does not prolong survival [56]. Furthermore, the cumulative use of chemotherapy may take a negative toll, leading to more complications, subsequent frequent ER visits and admissions and ICU care, longer hospitalizations, and death in the hospital, as evident in our own study (data not shown) and in other studies [3,57,58]. Closing the gaps in knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs could eliminate the disparities in EOL care across physician specialty lines.…”

Dialysis in the Frail Elderly — A Current Ethical Problem, an Impending Ethical Crisis

“…In addition to rapidly aging demographics, there has also been increasing intensity of care for the elderly and terminally ill in the past decades. 65,66 Between 1997 and 2003, there was a 57 % age-adjusted increase of HD initiation in octogenarians and nonagenarians. 7 This trend contributes to runaway costs that threaten the solvency of Medicare.…”

Clinical Characteristics and Prognosis of Lung Cancer Patients Admitted to the Medical Intensive Care Unit at a University Hospital

“…폐 암 환자의 5년 생존율은 평균 15% 정도이며 수술이 불가 능한 폐암 환자의 5년 생존율은 5%에도 미치지 못하 고 있다 3,4 . 이와 같이 매우 나쁜 예후에도 불구하고 폐암 이 진행되어 사망이 임박한 환자뿐만 아니라 폐색전증, 심근경색증, 폐렴 등의 질환이 동반된 폐암 환자는 병원에 입원하게 된다 1,5 .…”