• Shamsul Shah, Martin Blanchard, Adrian Tookman, Louise Jones, Robert Blizard, and Michael King.
• Department of Palliative Medicine, Royal Free Hospital and Edenhall Marie Curie Hospice, Hampstead.
• Palliat Med. 2006 Apr 1; 20 (3): 205-10.

BackgroundProvision of palliative care for patients with non-cancer conditions is hindered by the difficulty of predicting when people will die and fear of causing distress by raising end-of-life issues.ObjectivesTo compare patients' and professionals' (1) estimations of prognosis; (2) perceptions of the seriousness of the illness and needs for supportive care; and (3) acceptability of this sensitive research, in end-stage cancer and non-cancer diseases.DesignProspective cohort study.SettingA teaching hospital and a Marie Curie hospice in London.SubjectsTwenty patients with advanced non-malignant disease (heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and renal failure) and 20 patients with advanced cancer, and their physicians in charge.MethodA feasibility study using vignettes to aid patients and doctors estimate of prognoses. Main outcome measures were (1) patients' and physicians' estimates of health status, care needs and prognosis; and (2) patient survival.ResultsPatients were willing and able to estimate their own life expectancy and cancer patients correctly estimated that they had a poorer prognosis than non-cancer patients. Non-cancer patients perceived that they had similar needs for supportive care as cancer patients. Physicians made little distinction in palliative care needs between patients with and without cancer, but tended to make more pessimistic estimates of prognosis in non-cancer patients.ConclusionsPatients are able to judge their health status and life expectancy and do not object to questions about end-of-life care. Cancer and non-cancer patients have similar needs for supportive care. We need further evidence on the value of self-rated prognosis and how to provide palliative and supportive care for all patients who are near death.

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