Longitudinal symptoms and temporal trends in palliative care, palliative radiotherapy, and anti-cancer treatment near end of life among patients with metastatic cancer.

Background: Early specialty palliative care (PC) integration improves oncologic outcomes. We aimed to examine longitudinal relationships between specialty PC and palliative radiotherapy (RT), temporal distribution of symptoms, and predictors of earlier specialty PC.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 135 patients with metastatic cancer who received palliative RT at our institution (7/2017-2/2018) and who had died by final study follow-up (6/2021). Descriptive statistics summarized frequencies of clinical visits and symptoms over relative survival time (quartiles 1-3: first 75% of life remaining from metastatic diagnosis to death versus quartile 4: last 25% of life remaining from metastatic diagnosis to death). Logistic regression analyses revealed predictors of receiving earlier (quartiles 1-3) versus later (quartile 4) specialty PC.

Results: There were 16.3%, 10.4%, 26.7%, and 46.7% of palliative RT consultations, compared to 4.7%, 7.6%, 14.0%, and 73.7% of specialty PC visits, that occurred in quartiles 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. On multivariable analysis, pain significantly predicted for receiving earlier specialty PC [odds ratios (OR) =15.34; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.16-324.23; P=0.020], while patients with ≥2 prior chemotherapy regimens were less likely to have received earlier specialty PC (OR =0.16; 95% CI: 0.04-0.58; P=0.009). The most common reasons for first specialty PC visit were addressing pain (61.0%) and goals of care (19.5%). Overall, 73.3% (99/135) of patients were referred to hospice and 9.6% (13/135) received either palliative RT, chemotherapy, or surgery within 30 days of death.

Conclusions: Nearly 47% of palliative RT visits compared with 74% of specialty PC visits occurred in the last quarter of life from metastatic diagnosis to death. Multidisciplinary efforts are needed to manage longitudinal symptoms and offer goal-concordant care.