Determinants and implications of aggressiveness of care at the end of cancer patients' lives from the relatives' perspective
- Conditions
- F00-F99Mental and behavioural disorders
- Registration Number
- DRKS00022837
- Lead Sponsor
- niversitätsklinikum Heidelberg, Klinik für Allgemeine Innere Medizin und Psychosomatik (Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Herzog)
- Brief Summary
Background: Intensified oncological treatment for advanced cancer patients at the end-of-life has been specified as aggressiveness of care (AOC) and increased over the past decades. The aims of this study were to 1) determine the frequency of AOC in Central Europe, and 2) investigate differences in mental health outcomes in bereaved caregivers depending on whether the decedent had experienced AOC or not. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in a large tertiary comprehensive cancer care center in Germany. Bereaved caregivers provided information about (a) treatment within the last month of life of the deceased cancer patient and (b) their own mental health status, i.e., decision regret, complicated grief, depression, and anxiety. After multiple imputation of missing data, differences in mental health outcomes between AOC-caregivers and non-AOC-caregivers were analyzed in a multivariate analysis of variances. Results: We enrolled 298 bereaved caregivers of deceased cancer patients. AOC occurred in 30.9% of all patients. In their last month of life, 20.0% of all patients started a new chemotherapy regimen, and 13.8% received ICU-treatment. We found differences in mental health outcomes between bereaved AOC- and non-AOC-caregivers. Bereaved AOC caregivers experienced significantly more decision regret compared to non-AOC caregivers (Cohen’s d = 0.49, 95% CI [0.23, 0.76]). Conclusion: AOC occurs frequently in European health care and is associated with poorer mental health outcomes in bereaved caregivers. Future cohort studies should substantiate these findings and explore specific trajectories related to AOC. Notwithstanding, shared-decision making at end-of-life should increasingly account for both patients’ and caregivers’ preferences.
- Detailed Description
Not available
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- Complete
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 304
aged 18 years or older, bereaved caregiver of a patient who passed away six months prior to caregiver’s study participation, written informed consent
insufficient German language proficiency or cognitive impairment, which preclude adequate completion of the questionnaires
Study & Design
- Study Type
- observational
- Study Design
- Not specified
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method frequency of occurrence of aggressiveness of care at the end of cancer patients' lives
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method mental health status of the bereaved caregivers<br><br>- mental symptom burden (Patient Health Questionnaire 9, PHQ-9, for Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, GAD-7, for anxiety disorders)<br>- regret of treatment decisions (Decisions Regret Scale for Caregivers, DRS-C)<br>- complicated grief (Inventory of Complicated Grief, ICG)