Journal of palliative medicine
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Multicenter Study
A Multicenter Cohort Study to Explore Differentiating Factors between Tumor Fever and Infection among Advanced Cancer Patients.
Background : Tumor fever and infection are common febrile etiologies among advanced cancer patients. To date, only few studies have been conducted to differentiate between tumor fever and infections. Objective: This study aimed to identify discriminating factors that provide rapid results and are feasible and minimally invasive for discriminating between tumor fever and infection in advanced cancer patients. Methods : This is a retrospective cohort study. Advanced cancer patients with clinically diagnosed tumor fever or infection, who received medical treatment from palliative care specialists in 10 nationwide Japanese hospitals, were consecutively identified during August 2012 and November 2014. ⋯ Their mean age was 68.8 years, 68 (64.8%) were men, and the median palliative performance status (PPS) was 50. Statistically significant factors predicting tumor fever by logistic regression analysis were as follows: deterioration of PPS (odds ratio, 0.078), shaking chills during fever (0.067), and change from baseline data of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio of ≥5 (0.14). Conclusions : Shaking chills during fever, and changes from baseline of performance status and white blood cell differentiation can be useful to differentiate between tumor fever and infection among advanced cancer patients. Further confirmatory studies are needed.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Can Persons with Dementia Meaningfully Participate in Advance Care Planning Discussions? A Mixed-Methods Study of SPIRIT.
Background: Despite the importance of persons with dementia (PWDs) engaging in advance care planning (ACP) at a time when they are still competent to appoint a surrogate decision maker and meaningfully participate in ACP discussions, studies of ACP in PWDs are rare. Objective: We conducted an intervention development study to adapt an efficacious ACP intervention, SPIRIT (sharing patient's illness representations to increase trust), for PWDs in early stages (recent Montreal Cognitive Assessment [MoCA] score ≥13) and their surrogates and assess whether SPIRIT could help PWDs engage in ACP. Design: A formative expert panel review of the adapted SPIRIT, followed by a randomized trial with qualitative interviews, was conducted. Patient-surrogate dyads were randomized to SPIRIT in person (in a private room in a memory clinic) or SPIRIT remote (via videoconferencing from home). Setting/Subjects: Twenty-three dyads of PWDs and their surrogates were recruited from an outpatient brain health center. ⋯ While decision-making capacity was higher in PWDs who articulated their wishes very coherently, MoCA scores did not differ by articulation levels. PWDs and surrogates perceived SPIRIT as beneficial, but the preparedness outcomes did not change pre-post. Conclusions: SPIRIT engaged PWDs and surrogates in meaningful ACP discussions, but requires testing of efficacy and long-term outcomes.
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Background: Delivery of health services in the province of Ontario is organized into 14 Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), and further into 76 LHIN subregions, making these a natural unit of comparing the regional differences in palliative care receipt among decedents who were identified as having palliative care needs. Objective: To assess the presence and magnitude of the remaining regional variation in palliative care receipt in Ontario after accounting for demographic and socioeconomic differences between the LHIN subregions, and therefore to assess whether the standardized proportion of palliative care receipt as a performance indicator can capture potential performance-related issues. Design: A retrospective cohort study based on Ontario administrative data sources. Setting/Subjects: Ontario residents who died between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016 and were identified as having palliative care needs. Measurements: Date of death, diagnostic codes used for determining palliative care needs, and services receipt in last year of life were identified from multiple administrative databases. Demographic and socioeconomic information were derived from linking decedents' postal codes to Statistics Canada Census data and Ontario Marginalization Index. Results: Statistically significant variation ranging from 63% to 75% in palliative care receipt exists between Ontario subregions even after accounting for demographic and socioeconomic differences, including age, sex, rurality, income quintile, and the four dimensions of the Ontario Marginalization Index. Conclusions: Annual directly standardized proportion of palliative care receipt can be used as a performance indicator to detect regional differences in service receipt while adjusting for regional differences in the characteristics of the decedent populations. The factors to be adjusted for can be chosen based on the comparison of interest.
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Background: Religion and/or spirituality are important values for many parents of critically ill children; however, how religion and/or spirituality may influence which treatments parents accept or decline for their child, or how they respond to significant events during their child's illness treatment, remains unclear. Objective: To summarize the literature related to the influence of parents' religiosity or spirituality on decision making for their critically ill child. Design: Integrative review, using the Whittemore and Knafl approach. Setting/Subjects: Data were collected from studies identified through PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL plus), Embase, Scopus, and PsychInfo. Databases were searched to identify literature published between 1996 and 2016. Results: Twenty-four articles of variable methodological quality met inclusion criteria. Analysis generated three themes: parents' religiosity or spirituality as (1) guidance during decision making, (2) comfort and support during the decision-making process, and (3) a source of meaning, purpose, and connectedness in the experience of decision making. Conclusion: This review suggests that parents' religiosity and/or spirituality is an important and primarily positive influence on their decision making for a critically ill child.
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Comparative Study
Association between Dying Experience and Place of Death: Urban-Rural Differences among Older Chinese Adults.
Background: The quality of the dying experience among older adults should improve with a better understanding of the dying experience and its association with the place of death in Mainland China. Objective: This study investigated the relationship between the dying experience and place of death among older Chinese adults in the context of an urban-rural bifurcated system. Design: We used the end-of-life module data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey conducted in 2014 and 2016 with an eligible sample of 352 decedents ages 60 and older. Facial expression and sadness at the end of life were indicators of the dying experience in the present study. ⋯ Among the decedents with an urban residence status, the place of death was not significantly related to the dying experience. Conclusion: Although home is perceived as a common place for death, the findings revealed that dying at home was less positive for rural older adults compared with dying in hospital. Bridging the gaps between urban and rural areas is necessary for the reform and construction of health care and long-term care systems in China.