Place of Death for Adults Receiving Specialist Palliative Care in Their Last 3 Months of Life: Factors Associated With Preferred Place, Actual Place, and Place of Death Congruence.

Congruence between the preferred and actual place of death is recognised as an important quality indicator in end-of-life care. However, there may be complexities about preferences that are ignored in summary congruence measures. This article examined factors associated with preferred place of death, actual place of death, and congruence for a sample of patients who had received specialist palliative care in the last three months of life in Ireland.

Costs of formal and informal care in the last year of life for patients in receipt of specialist palliative care.

Background: Economic evaluation of palliative care has been slow to develop and the evidence base remains small.

Aim: This article estimates formal and informal care costs in the last year of life for a sample of patients who received specialist palliative care in three different areas in Ireland.

Design: Formal care costs are calculated for community, specialist palliative care, acute hospital and other services.

Evidence on the cost and cost-effectiveness of palliative care: a literature review.

Background: In the context of limited resources, evidence on costs and cost-effectiveness of alternative methods of delivering health-care services is increasingly important to facilitate appropriate resource allocation. Palliative care services have been expanding worldwide with the aim of improving the experience of patients with terminal illness at the end of life through better symptom control, coordination of care and improved communication between professionals and the patient and family.

Aim: To present results from a comprehensive literature review of available international evidence on the costs and cost-effectiveness of palliative care interventions in any setting (e.

Explaining structural change in cardiovascular mortality in Ireland 1995-2005: a time series analysis.

Background: Deaths from diseases of the circulatory system and the seasonality of deaths from these causes fell sharply between 1995 and 2005 among older age groups in Ireland. We examine whether a structural break occurred in deaths from circulatory causes in Ireland between 1995 and 2005 and test whether this can be statistically accounted for by cardiovascular prescribing during the same period controlling for weather trends.

Methods: Grouped logit time series models were used to identify if and at which quarter a structural break occurred in Irish circulatory deaths between 1995 and 2005.