Care trajectories and transitions at the end of life: a population-based cohort study

End-of-life periods are often characterised by suboptimal healthcare use (HCU) patterns in persons aged 65 years and older, with negative effects on health and quality of life. Understanding care trajectories (CTs) and transitions in this period can highlight potential areas of improvement, a subject yet only little studied.

To propose a typology of CTs, including care transitions, for older individuals in the 2 years preceding death.

Retrospective cohort study.

We used multidimensional state sequence analysis and data from the Care Trajectories-Enriched Data (TorSaDE) cohort, a linkage between a Canadian health survey and Quebec health administrative data.

In total, 2080 decedents were categorised into five CT groups. Group 1 demonstrated low HCU until the last few months, whilst group 2 showed low HCU over the first year, followed by a steady increase. A gradual increase over the 2 years was observed for groups 3 and 4, though more pronounced towards the end for group 3. A persistent high HCU was observed for group 5. Groups 2 and 4 had higher proportions of cancer diagnoses and palliative care, as opposed to comorbidities and dementia for groups 3 and 5. Overall, 68.4% of individuals died in a hospital, whilst 27% received palliative care there. Care transitions increased rapidly towards the end, most notably in the last 2 weeks.

This study provides an understanding of the variability of CTs in the last two years of life, including place of death, a critical step towards quality improvement.