Patterns of care at the end of life: a retrospective study of Italian patients with advanced breast cancer

Objectives To better understand the type of care offered to Italian patients with advanced breast cancer at the End-of-Life (EoL), we conducted a retrospective observational study.

EoL was defined as the period of six months before death.

Methods One hundred and twenty-one patients with advanced breast cancer (ABC) treated at IRCCS San Martino Policlinic Hospital who died between 2017 and 2021 were included.

Data about patient, disease, and treatment characteristics from breast cancer diagnosis to death, along with information about comorbidities, medications, imaging, specialist evaluations, hospitalization, palliative care and home care, hospice admissions, and site of death were collected.

Results 98.3% of the patients received at least one line of active treatment at EoL; 52.8% were hospitalized during the selected period.

Palliative (13.9%), psychological (7.4%), and nutritional evaluations (8.2%) were underutilized.

Palliative home care was provided to 52% of the patients.

Most of the patients died at home (66.1%) and fewer than one out of five (18.2%) died at the hospital.

Among the patients who died at home, 27.3% had no palliative support.

Conclusions Our findings indicate that palliative care in EoL breast cancer patients is still inadequate.

Only a minority of patients had psychological and nutritional support While low nutritional support may be explained by the fact that typical symptoms of ABC do not involve the gastrointestinal tract, the lack of psychological support suggests that significant barriers still exist.

Data on the site of death are encouraging, indicating that EoL management is increasingly home centered in Italy.