Figure 1.
Flow chart of the assessment of patients for eligibility. IOL – Institute of Oncology Ljubljana.
Figure 2.
Frequency distribution of different anticancer treatments in the last month of life. * Patients receiving different modalities of treatment are included in all treatment groups corresponding to the therapies they received.
31 patients received a combination of modalities of treatment in the last month of life: 4 received systemic therapy and surgery, 26 received systemic therapy and radiotherapy, and one (1) patient received surgery and radiotherapy.
Table 1.
Multiple logistic regression analysis exploring the association between different predictors and the use of aggressive anticancer treatment in the last month of life.
| P | OR | 95% CI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender (male = REF) | 0.53 | 0.92 | 0.71 – 1.19 |
| Age at death* | < 0.001 | 0.96 | 0.95 – 0.97 |
| Year of death | 0.12 | 1.06 | 0.99 – 1.15 |
| Prognosis of cancer | |||
| Low (REF) | / | / | / |
| Intermediate | 0.22 | 1.28 | 0.86 – 1.92 |
| High | 0.80 | 1.07 | 0.65 – 1.75 |
| Type of cancer | |||
| Others (REF) | / | / | / |
| Gastrointestinal | 0.38 | 0.82 | 0.53 – 1.28 |
| Lung | 0.20 | 1.34 | 0.86 – 2.07 |
| Breast | 0.35 | 1.28 | 0.76 – 2.15 |
| Gynecological | 0.05 | 0.53 | 0.28 – 1.00 |
| Urogenital | 0.87 | 0.87 | 0.55 – 1.39 |
| Specialist palliative care (No = REF) | < 0.001 | 0.19 | 0.12 – 0.31 |
Table 2.
Multiple logistic regression analysis exploring the association between different predictors and aggressive medical care in the last month of life.
| P | OR | 95% CI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender (male = REF) | 0.61 | 0.93 | 0.72 – 1.21 |
| Age at death* | < 0.001 | 0.96 | 0.95 – 0.97 |
| Year of death | 0.12 | 1.06 | 0.98 – 1.15 |
| Prognosis of cancer | |||
| Low (REF) | / | / | / |
| Intermediate | 0.30 | 1.24 | 0.83 – 1.85 |
| High | 0.85 | 1.05 | 0.64 – 1.73 |
| Type of cancer | |||
| Others (REF) | / | / | / |
| Gastrointestinal | 0.41 | 0.83 | 0.53 – 1.30 |
| Lung | 0.20 | 1.34 | 0.86 – 2.08 |
| Breast | 0.43 | 1.24 | 0.73 – 2.09 |
| Gynecological | 0.04 | 0.52 | 0.28 – 0.97 |
| Urogenital | 0.55 | 0.87 | 0.55 – 1.38 |
| Aggressive oncological treatment (Yes vs. No) | < 0.001 | 1.84 | 1.47 – 2.30 |
| Specialist palliative care (No = REF) | < 0.001 | 0.25 | 0.15 – 0.40 |