How many older adults receive drugs of questionable clinical benefit near the end of life? A cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The high burden of disease-oriented drugs among older adults with limited life expectancy raises important questions about the potential futility of care.

Aim

To describe the use of drugs of questionable clinical benefit during the last 3 months of life of older adults who died from life-limiting conditions.

Design

Longitudinal, retrospective cohort study of decedents. Death certificate data were linked to administrative and healthcare registries with national coverage in Sweden.

Setting

Older adults (≥75 years) who died from conditions potentially amenable to palliative care between 1 January and 31 December 2015 in Sweden. We identified drugs of questionable clinical benefit from a set of consensus-based criteria.

Results

A total of 58,415 d

SUBMITTER: Morin L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6691599 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature