Age and ageing
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To explore the relationships between age, reported symptoms and dependency in the last year of life in those dying from cancer and in those dying from other causes. ⋯ Younger cancer patients are more likely than older cancer patients to need help with relieving distressing symptoms. However, some elderly patients were reported to have had very distressing symptoms, and these patients should not be excluded from specialist palliative care services on the basis of their age. Cancer patients did not show increased dependency with age, indicating the importance of community health and social services being appropriate for and accessible by cancer patients of all ages.