Associations Between Symptom Complexity and Acute Care Utilization Among Adult Advanced Cancer Patients Followed by a Palliative Care Service.

ABSTRACT: Among adult advanced cancer patients already accessing palliative care, symptoms can contribute to unplanned acute care utilizations, which can disrupt care and worsen patient outcomes. We examined how a novel symptom complexity algorithm, using patients' ratings of the nine Edmonton Symptom Assessment System-Revised (ESAS-r) symptoms to assign "low", "medium", or "high" complexity, predicts acute care utilizations. This retrospective observational cohort study used electronic medical record data from the Durham Regional Cancer Centre in Ontario, Canada, comprising adult advanced cancer patients who completed at least one ESAS-r report between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2023. We applied chi-squared tests, Kruskal-Wallis H tests, and multivariable binary logistic regressions to evaluate

SUBMITTER: Pranajaya P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12293374 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature