Home › Research › End-of-life care
Association between palliative care and life-sustaining treatments for patients with dementia: A nationwide 5-year cohort study
Chen PJ, Liang FW, Ho CH, Cheng SY, Chen YC, Chen YH, Chen YC.. Palliative medicine, 2018-01-18
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Background The association between palliative care and life-sustaining treatments for patients with dementia is unclear in Asian countries. Aim To analyse the use of palliative care and its association with aggressive treatments based on Taiwanese national data. Design A matched cohort study was conducted. The association between intervention and outcome was evaluated using conditional logistic regression analyses. Setting/participants The source population comprised 239,633 patients with dementia diagnosed between 2002 and 2013. We selected patients who received palliative care between 2009 and 2013 (the treatment cohort; N = 1996) and assembled a comparative cohort ( N = 3992) through 1:2 matching for confounding factors. Results After 2009, palliative care was provided to 3928 (1.64%) patients of the dementia population. The odds ratio for undergoing life-sustaining treatments in the treatment cohort versus the comparative cohort was <1 for most treatments (e.g. 0.41 for mechanical ventilation (95% confidence interval: 0.35-0.48)). The odds ratio was >1 for some treatments (e.g. 1.73 for tube feeding (95% confidence interval: 1.54-1.95)). Palliative care was more consistently associated with fewer life-sustaining treatments for those with cancer. Conclusions Palliative care is related to reduced life-sustaining treatments for patients with dementia. However, except in the case of tube feeding, which tended to be provided alongside palliative care regardless of cancer status, having cancer possibly had itself a protective effect against the use of life-sustaining treatments. Modifying the eligibility criteria for palliative care in dementia, improving awareness on the terminal nature of dementia and facilitating advance planning for dementia patients may be priorities for health policies.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Chen, P. J., Liang, F. W., Ho, C. H., Cheng, S. Y., Chen, Y. C., & Chen, Y. H. (2018). Association between palliative care and life-sustaining treatments for patients with dementia: A nationwide 5-year cohort study. Palliative medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216317751334
Vancouver
Chen PJ, Liang FW, Ho CH, Cheng SY, Chen YC, Chen YH. Association between palliative care and life-sustaining treatments for patients with dementia: A nationwide 5-year cohort study. Palliative medicine. 2018. doi:10.1177/0269216317751334. PMID: 29343186.
BibTeX
@article{chen2018-29343186,
author = {Chen, P. J. and Liang, F. W. and Ho, C. H. and Cheng, S. Y. and Chen, Y. C. and Chen, Y. H.},
title = {{Association between palliative care and life-sustaining treatments for patients with dementia: A nationwide 5-year cohort study}},
journal = {Palliative medicine},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1177/0269216317751334},
pmid = {29343186},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216317751334}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Results After 2009, palliative care was provided to 3928 (1.64%) patients of the dementia population.
- The odds ratio for undergoing life-sustaining treatments in the treatment cohort versus the comparative cohort was <1 for most treatments (e.g. 0.41 for mechanical ventilation (95% confidence interval: 0.35-0.48)).
- Palliative care was more consistently associated with fewer life-sustaining treatments for those with cancer.
Study details
- Study designcohort study
- Participants1,996
- Effect size1.64%
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 67/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a cohort study following people over time. Scored zero for randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 39 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 67 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Palliative medicine) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A cohort study following people over time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2018 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 1,996 participants |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 29343186) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 39 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 39 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 67 out of 100. |
| Total | 67 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Free copy unknown: no free-copy check has an answer for this record yet. That does not mean it is paywalled.
Related studies in End-of-life care
Also tagged “care”
996 studies in the library carry the topic tag “care”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 996 tagged studies.