Association of rurality with utilization of palliative care and hospice among Medicare beneficiaries who died from pancreatic cancer: A cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pancreatic cancer has a 5-year survival of just 10%. Services such as palliative care and hospice are thus crucial in this population, yet their geographic accessibility and utilization remains unknown.

Aim

We studied the association between rurality of patient residence and the use of palliative care and hospice.

Design, setting, and participants

Cohort study of continuously enrolled fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥65 diagnosed with incident pancreatic cancer between 04/01/2016-08/31/2018 and who died by 12/31/2018.

Results

In this decedent cohort of 31,460 patients, 77% lived in metropolitan areas, 11% in micropolitan areas, 7% in small towns, and 5% in rural areas. Patient demographics were largely similar across rurality; however, th

SUBMITTER: Ramkumar N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10293103 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature