Quality of end-of-life care in low-income, uninsured men dying of prostate cancer.

Abstract

The quality of end-of-life care was assessed in disadvantaged men prospectively enrolled in a public assistance program. That end-of-life care would be aggressive, more so than recommended by quality-of-care guidelines, was hypothesized. Included in the study were all 60 low-income, uninsured men in a state-funded public assistance program who had died since its inception in 2001. To measure quality of end-of-life care, information was collected regarding timing of the institution of new chemotherapeutic regimens, time from administration of last chemotherapy dose to death, the number of inpatient admissions and intensive care unit stays made in the 3 months preceding death, and the number of emergency room visits made in the 12 months before dying. Also noted were hospice use and the timing of hospice referrals. Eighteen men (30%) enrolled in hospice before death and the average hospice stay lasted 45 days (standard deviation, 32; range, 2-143 days; median, 41 days). Two patients (11%) were enrolled for fewer than 7 days, and none were enrolled for more than 180 days. The average time from administration of the last dose of chemotherapy to death was 104 days. Chemotherapy was never initiated within 3 months of death, and in only 2 instances (6%) was the final chemotherapeutic regimen administered within 2 weeks of dying. Use of hospital resources (emergency room visits, inpatient admissions, and intensive care unit stays) was uniformly low (mean, 1.0 +/- 1.0, 0.65 +/- 0.82, and 0.03 +/- 0.18, respectively). End-of-life care in disadvantaged men dying of prostate cancer, who enroll in a comprehensive statewide assistance program, is high-quality.