Palliative care use and end-of-life care quality in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer

Palliative care use and end-of-life care quality in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment; by Julia G Cohn, Susan C Locke, Kris W Herring, Susan F Dent, Thomas W LeBlanc; 8/25
Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is incurable, despite therapeutic advances, especially in hormone receptor positive (HR+) and human epidermal growth factor-2 negative (HER2-) disease. Of 102 patients, 85 died during the study period, and over half (55%) received aggressive EoL [end of life] care. Half had some form of SPC [specialist palliative care], and rates of aggressive EoL care were comparable between those who engaged with SPC and those who did not. The most common indicators of aggressive EoL care included multiple ED visits (28%) and hospital admissions (23%) in the last 30 days of life as well as in-hospital location of death (24%). Although 72% enrolled in hospice care, 9% of patients were on hospice for ≤ 3 days. This real-world study demonstrates that many patients with HR + /HER2- MBC [metastatic breast cancer] receive aggressive EoL care despite some engaging with SPC and many enrolling in hospice.