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Background: Palliative care (PC) aims to enhance the quality of life for patients when confronted with serious illness. As stroke inflicts high morbidity and mortality, the integration of PC within acute stroke care remains an important aspect of quality inpatient care. However, there is a tendency to offer PC to stroke patients only when death appears imminent. We aim to understand why this may be by examining stroke patients admitted to a regional stroke centre who subsequently died and their provision of PC. Methods: We conducted a retrospective single-centre cohort study of patients who died during admission to the regional stroke centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Baseline demographics were assessed using means, standard deviations (SD), medians, interquartile ranges (IQR), and proportions. Descriptive statistics, univariate, and multivariate analyses were performed to ascertain relationships between collected variables. Results: Univariate modeling demonstrated that older age, being female, no stroke diagnosis at admission to hospital, ischemic stroke, and comorbidities of cancer or dementia were associated with a higher incidence of palliative medicine consultation (PMC), while admission from an acute care hospital and a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) coma classification were associated with a lower incidence of PMC. The multivariate model identified the GCS coma-related category as the only significant factor associated with a higher incidence of death but was non-significantly related to a lower incidence of PMC. Conclusion: These results highlight continued missed opportunities for PC in stroke patients and underscore the need to better optimize PMC.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected older adults disproportionately, and delirium is a concerning consequence; however, the relationship between delirium and corticosteroid use is uncertain. The objective of the present study was to describe patient characteristics, treatments and outcomes among older adults hospitalized with COVID-19, with a focus on dexamethasone use and delirium incidence. METHODS: We completed this retrospective cohort study at 7 sites (including acute care, rehabilitation and long-term care settings) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We included adults aged 65 years or older, consecutively hospitalized with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, between Mar. 11, 2020, and Apr. 30, 2021. We abstracted patient characteristics and outcomes from charts and analyzed them descriptively. We used a logistic regression model to determine the association between dexamethasone use and delirium incidence. RESULTS: During the study period, 927 patients were admitted to the acute care hospitals with COVID-19. Patients' median age was 79.0 years (interquartile range [IQR] 72.0-87.0), and 417 (45.0%) were female. Most patients were frail (61.9%), based on a Clinical Frailty Scale score of 5 or greater. The prevalence of delirium was 53.6%, and the incidence was 33.1%. Use of restraints was documented in 20.4% of patients. In rehabilitation and long-term care settings (n = 115), patients' median age was 86.0 years (IQR 78.5-91.0), 72 (62.6%) were female and delirium occurred in 17 patients (14.8%). In patients admitted to acute care during wave 2 of the pandemic (Aug. 1, 2020, to Feb. 20, 2021), dexamethasone use had a nonsignificant association with delirium incidence (adjusted odds ratio 1.38, 95% confidence interval 0.77-2.50). Overall, in-hospital death occurred in 262 (28.4%) patients in acute care settings and 28 (24.3%) patients in rehabilitation or long-term care settings. INTERPRETATION: In-hospital death, delirium and use of restraints were common in older adults admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Further research should be directed to improving the quality of care for this population with known vulnerabilities during continued waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
