Impact of specialist palliative care on utilization of healthcare and social services at the end-of-life: a nationwide register-based cohort study.

ABSTRACT: Non-malignant diseases cause 60% of non-communicable diseases requiring palliative care, yet specialist palliative care services primarily focus on cancer. We investigated end-of-life healthcare and social services utilization among cancer and non-malignant patients, and, secondarily, access to specialist palliative care and its effect on services utilization. This retrospective, nationwide register-based study included all adults (n = 38 540) who died from non-communicable life-limiting diseases in Finland in 2019, categorized into neurodegenerative (31%), other non-malignant (36%), and cancer (33%) groups. Hospital was the most common place of death (61%). Healthcare utilization substantially increased during the final weeks of life in all groups but remained highest in cancer patients.

SUBMITTER: Ahtiluoto SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12529283 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature