Assessing Patterns of Palliative Care Referral and Location of Death in Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: A Sixteen-Year Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study.

ABSTRACT: Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and fatal lung disease with an unpredictable course and a median survival of three to four years. This timeline challenges providers to approach diagnosis, oxygen therapy, rehabilitation, transplantation, and end-of-life discussions in limited encounters. There is currently no widely accepted guideline for determining when IPF patients should be referred to palliative care (PC). Objective: We sought to describe the patient and clinical factors associated with PC referral, as well as its impact on mortality and location of death. We also aimed to examine temporal trends in PC referral in this population. Materials and Methods: Patient data were retrospectively extracted from the health

SUBMITTER: Zou RH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7869870 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature