Chemotherapy during the last 30 days of life and the role of palliative care referral, a single center experience

Chemotherapy use closer to the end of life is a marker of poor-quality care. There are now multiple studies and local reviews addressing this issue. Understanding the practice locally will give valuable insight and opportunity for improvement. The study is a retrospective chart review of patients on chemotherapy at the Windsor Regional Cancer Center who died between April 1 , 2016 to December 31 , 2018. Information on demographics, type of cancer, type, intent and route of chemotherapy, line of chemotherapy, referral to hospice and palliative care services was collected. A total of 681 patients on chemotherapy died between April 1 , 2016 to Dec 13 , 2018. Of these, 119 (17.4 %) died within 30 days following chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was parenteral (Intravenous and Subcutaneous) for the majority (75.2%) of the patients. Most (66.4%) of the patients died of disease progression. Intent for chemotherapy was palliative in 85% of patients, adjuvant/neoadjuvant in 6.6% and curative in 8.4% of the patients. Chemotherapy was 1 , 2 , 3 line or more in 67.4%, 21.3% and 11.3% of the patients respectively. The type of chemotherapy was conventional in 74.3% of patients and targeted/immunotherapy in 25.7% of patients. Of the variables studied, lack of palliative referral and having lung cancer or melanoma were significantly associated with higher risk of getting chemotherapy within the last 30 days of life. The odds of getting chemotherapy within the last 30 days of life was 0.35, 95% CI (0.24-0.53), P