Aggressive End-Of-Life Care Remains Common In Older Patients With Metastatic Cancer, Researchers Say.

The New York Times (3/14, Span) reports researchers recently “analyzed five years of data from a cancer registry, nursing home assessments and Medicare claims to look at ‘aggressive end-of-life care’ among 146,000 older patients with metastatic cancer.” They then “compared nursing home residents’ care in the last 30 days of their lives with the care for non-institutionalized patients living in communities.” The researchers found that “the majority of both groups – 58 percent of community dwellers and 64 percent of nursing home residents – received aggressive treatment in their final 30 days,” and “a quarter underwent cancer treatment: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy.”