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Last year of life of adults with congenital heart diseases: causes of death and patterns of care
- Source :
- EUROPEAN HEART JOURNAL, European heart journal
- Publication Year :
- 2022
- Publisher :
- OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 2022.
-
Abstract
- Aims Although life expectancy in adults with congenital heart diseases (CHD) has increased dramatically over the past five decades, still a substantial number of patients dies prematurely. To gain understanding in the trajectories of dying in adults with CHD, the last year of life warrants further investigation. Therefore, our study aimed to (i) define the causes of death and (ii) describe the patterns of healthcare utilization in the last year of life of adults with CHD. Methods and results This retrospective mortality follow-back study used healthcare claims and clinical data from BELCODAC, which includes patients with CHD from Belgium. Healthcare utilization comprises cardiovascular procedures, CHD physician contacts, general practitioner visits, hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and specialist palliative care, and was identified using nomenclature codes. Of the 390 included patients, almost half of the study population (45%) died from a cardiovascular cause. In the last year of life, 87% of patients were hospitalized, 78% of patients had an ED visit, and 19% of patients had an ICU admission. Specialist palliative care was provided to 17% of patients, and to only 4% when looking at the patients with cardiovascular causes of death. Conclusions There is a high use of intensive and potentially avoidable care at the end of life. This may imply that end-of-life care provision can be improved. Future studies should further examine end-of-life care provision in the light of patient’s needs and preferences, and how the healthcare system can adequately respond.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Heart Defects, Congenital
Healthcare utilization
Cause of death
Cause of Death
FACILITATORS
Medicine and Health Sciences
Humans
POPULATION
Retrospective Studies
Hospitalizations
Terminal Care
BARRIERS
MORTALITY
Palliative Care
Congenital Heart Disease
TRENDS
Hospitalisations
Hospitalization
LONG
END
SURVIVAL
Human medicine
HEALTH
Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
End-of-life
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0195668X and 15229645
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- EUROPEAN HEART JOURNAL, European heart journal
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c8af09bd9c1b3ba83ee0bccc239d14b2