@article{APM9634,
author = {Giulia-Anna Perri and Shannon Bunn and Yeon Ji Oh and Altaf Kassam and Anna Berall and Jurgis Karuza and Houman Khosravani},
title = {Attributes and outcomes of end stage liver disease as compared with other noncancer patients admitted to a geriatric palliative care unit},
journal = {Annals of Palliative Medicine},
volume = {5},
number = {2},
year = {2016},
keywords = {},
abstract = {Background: End stage liver disease (ESLD) is increasingly more prevalent as a noncancer disease to manage in palliative care. Because of the clear lack of a “terminal phase” in ESLD, palliative care is often initiated only when death is perceived as being imminent. Palliative care units (PCUs) serve as an option for continued care for patients living with ESLD and are a limited resource, often not able to accommodate longer patient admissions. Concerns have been raised that ESLD patients may be admitted late in their disease course, not allowing for equitable access to such a service because of a perceived longer length of stay (LOS). The aim of this study is to better characterize the illness experience of patients with ESLD on a geriatric PCU comparing ESLD patients and other noncancer patients in terms of admission PPS, estimated prognosis and LOS.
Methods: This was a single-center retrospective chart review of all noncancer patients admitted to Baycrest Health Sciences Palliative Care Unit (PCU) in Toronto, Canada over a four-year period. We measured the association between demographic data, estimated prognosis, Palliative Performance Score (PPS), and LOS between patients with ESLD and other noncancer diagnoses.
Results: There were 235 patients with noncancer diagnoses admitted to the PCU during the study period, of which 19% had ESLD. Patients with ESLD were both significantly younger (P},
issn = {2224-5839}, url = {https://apm.amegroups.org/article/view/9634}
}