Association of Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment With Inpatient Antimicrobial Use at End of Life in Patients With Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial utilization at end of life is common, but whether advance directives correlate with usage is unknown. We sought to determine whether Washington State Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form completion or antimicrobial preferences documented therein correlate with subsequent inpatient antimicrobial prescribing at end of life. METHODS: This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study of adult patients at a cancer center who died between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2019. We used negative binomial models adjusted for age, sex, and malignancy type to test the relationship between POLST form completion ≥30 days before death, antimicrobial preferences, and antimicrobial days of therapy (DOT) per 1000 inpatient-days in the last 30 days of life. RESULTS: Among 1295 eligible decedents with ≥1 inpatient-day during the last 30 days of life, 318 (24.6%) completed a POLST form. Of 318, 120 (37.7%) were completed ≥30 days before death, 35/120 (29.2%) specified limited antimicrobials, 55/120 (45.8%) specified full antimicrobial use, and 30/120 (25%) omitted antimicrobial preference. Eighty-three percent (1070/1295) received ≥1 inpatient antimicrobial. The median total and intravenous (IV) antimicrobial DOT/1000 inpatient-days were 1077 and 667. Patients specifying limited antimicrobials had significantly lower total antimicrobial DOT (adjusted incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.68; 95% CI, 0.49-0.95; P = .02) and IV antimicrobial DOT (IRR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.38-0.86; P = .008) compared with those without a POLST. CONCLUSIONS: Indicating a preference for limited antimicrobials on a POLST form ≥30 days before death may lead to less inpatient antimicrobial use in the last 30 days of life.

Curative Intent Radiotherapy Delivered Within the Last Year of Life.

OBJECTIVES: We studied a cohort of cancer patients that underwent curative-intent radiation within the last year of life (LYOL). Given the unexpectedly short survival, we evaluated the proportion with relapsed/refractory disease, determined causes of death, and explored whether treatment intent was associated with aggressiveness of care at the end of life. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We extracted and linked claims data and radiotherapy records for patients seen at a single academic institution that died between October 1, 2014, and September 30, 2015. RESULTS: Among 870 cancer patients, 290 were irradiated within the LYOL, of which 287 had treatment intent recorded (101 curative-intent, 186 palliative-intent). The majority of curative-intent patients had hematologic malignancies and/or underwent transplant (44.6%), followed by head and neck (9.9%) and gastrointestinal malignancies (9.9%). Half (n=49; 48.5%) had relapsed/refractory disease at the time of curative-intent radiation, including 13 with metastatic disease. Tumor progression (n=65; 64.4%) was the most common cause of death, followed by treatment-related mortality (n=27; 26.7%), of which transplant/hematologic malignancy patients (n=19) were the majority. Compared with palliative-intent patients, curative-intent patients had significantly higher rates of chemotherapy use within 14 days of death (P=0.04), intensive care unit stay within 30 days of death (P<0.00001), and death in the intensive care unit (P=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Cancer patients that receive curative-intent radiation in the LYOL appear to be heterogeneous and receive more aggressive care at the end of life compared with palliative-intent patients. Categorizing radiation as curative in patients with metastatic disease may reflect inappropriate decision-making among physicians. Additional studies are needed to understand how radiation oncologists categorize treatment as curative and whether prognostication models may help discriminate patients undergoing curative-intent radiation that have limited life expectancies.

Use of Radiation Therapy Within the Last Year of Life Among Cancer Patients.

PURPOSE: We examined radiation therapy (RT) use within the last year of life (LYOL). As palliative RT (PRT) has been well studied in patients with ≥6-week life expectancies, we hypothesized that PRT use would be constant over the LYOL, except for the last 30 days, when use would decline given lack of prospective data supporting it. MATERIALS AND METHODS: At a single institution, 870 cancer patients died between October 2, 2014, and September 30, 2015, and had ≥3 evaluation and management visits within the LYOL. Claims and RT data were extracted and linked. Over the LYOL, we evaluated RT use by intent (curative vs palliative) and indications. RESULTS: Within the LYOL, one-third of patients underwent RT in the last 365 days of life to 444 sites, which decreased to 24.3% and 8.5% in the last 180 and 30 days of life, respectively. Patients who received any RT in the last 365 days of life were younger at death and had a higher proportion of lung, sarcoma, and transplant disease groups. One-quarter of sites were irradiated with curative intent, which remained constant over the LYOL. In contrast, PRT was used at a supralinear rate, in which treatment of bone metastases and use of single-fraction PRT increased closer to death. CONCLUSIONS: PRT appears to be disproportionately used closer to death, with an increasing proportion of irradiated sites being bone metastases. This may be secondary to increased symptoms from advanced cancer toward the end of life. As patients with very poor prognoses (eg, within 30 days of death) are generally not included in RT clinical trials, further studies are warranted to assess whether PRT for bone metastases at the end of life is efficacious.