Equal palliative care for foreign-born patients: A national quality register study

To use data from a national quality register to investigate if there are differences relating to migrant background in the quality of end-of-life care of patients dying in Sweden.

A retrospective, comparative register-based study. In total, 81,418 deceased patients, over 18 years of age, registered in the Swedish Register of Palliative Care during 2017 and 2018, of expected death were included in the study. Of these, 72,012 were Swedish-born and 9,395 were foreign-born. Descriptive and analytical statistical methods were used.

No general pattern of differences in quality regarding end-of-life care was found between Swedish- and foreign-born patients. There were several significant differences in various quality indicators but not in a specific direction. Sometimes, the quality indicators showed an advantage for Swedish-born patients but just as often, they were also favorable for foreign-born patients. Swedish-born patients had greater access to specialized palliative care than foreign-born patients. Foreign-born patients were more often cared for in general home care setting, despite a higher frequency of cancer diagnosis.

Foreign-born patients were less likely to be cared for in specialized palliative care units and had poorer access to palliative care teams than Swedish-born patients, despite having a higher proportion of cancer diagnoses. However, no general pattern was found indicating that foreign-born patients were disadvantaged in the quality indicators measured in the present study. Perhaps, this is an indication that the palliative care in Sweden is individualized; nonetheless, the quality of end-of-life care would be higher if dying patients, regardless of country of birth, have better access to specialized palliative care.