Determining prognosis and predicting survival in end-of-life care

The purpose of this article is to review some recent studies referred to prognosis factors and our capacity to predict death during the final stages of disease.

Recent studies show significant approaches through the use of some instruments (especially self-assessment tools), which we will analyze herein.

In many cases of clinical practice, this prediction capacity based on solid elements may be key to determine or contraindicate certain therapeutic resources. Such is the case, for example, when it is necessary to define the transfer of a patient to a proper specialized center, under family or legal circumstances demanding a clarification on this point, or for handling the dialog with the patients and/or their relatives. According to recent findings, we should include some elements of self-assessment in our instruments to predict death in palliative care.