High-Intensity End-of-Life Care Among Patients With GI Cancer in Puerto Rico: A Population-Based Study

High-intensity care with undue suffering among patients with cancer at the end of life (EoL) is associated with poor quality of life. We examined the pattern and predictors of high-intensity care among patients with GI cancer in Puerto Rico.

This population-based study of data from the Puerto Rico Central Cancer Registry-Health Insurance Linkage Database examined patients with GI cancer who died between 2009 and 2017. EoL care intensity indicators include the following services in the last month before death: emergency room (ER) visits, hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, life-extending procedures, death in an acute care setting, and the use of chemotherapy in the last 14 days. We used logistic regression models to examine factors associated with EoL care.

Four thousand six hundred twenty-nine patients with GI cancer were included in the analysis. We found that 11.0% of patients received chemotherapy, 17.3% had > 1 hospitalization, 9.3% were in the ICU, 18.0% had > 1 ER visit, 39.3% died in an acute care setting, and 8.6% received life-extending procedures. A compound indicator of the aggressiveness of care showed that 54.5% of patients had at least one of the selected aggressive indicators. The multivariable model showed that female patients, patients ≥ 60 years of age, patients enrolled in Medicaid, patients dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, and patients who survived > 1 year were less likely to receive aggressive EoL care.

Our findings support the urgent need to improve EoL care in Puerto Rico. Further studies are warranted to fully understand EoL care in patients with cancer in Puerto Rico.