• Tallal Younis, Robert Milch, Nawal Abul-Khoudoud, David Lawrence, Amy Mirand, and Ellis G Levine.
• Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. tallal.younis@cdha.nshealth.ca
• J Palliat Med. 2007 Apr 1; 10 (2): 381-9.

AbstractThis is a retrospective study of the length of survival (LOS) in hospice of patients with cancer treated at a major cancer center compared to other treatment sites. Of 670 patients, the 185 (28%) treated at a major cancer center had unique characteristics, including higher median Palliative Performance Score (PPS) at the time of hospice enrollment (45 versus 40, p = 0.009), and longer median LOS in hospice (35 versus 21 days, p = 0.02: log rank test). Additional variables that predicted longer LOS were higher PPS, Medicare or Medicaid, self-referral, unmarried status, and non-executed advance directives. After adjusting survival for PPS with a Cox proportional hazard model, the hazard ratio for PPS remained statistically significant (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.95-0.97] while that for the treatment site was not (95% CI: 0.73-1.04]. The performance status, and not the treatment site, was the dominant predictor of the LOS of patients with cancer in hospice.

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