Utilization of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis

Objectives: The prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and the number of patients undergoing dialysis in Taiwan are high. Since September 2009, the National Health Insurance has started to provide hospice care to patients with renal failure in Taiwan. Therefore, it is necessary to understand t...

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Main Authors: Shu-Chen Wang, Kai-Chieh Hu, Wei-Chuan Chang, Chung-Y Hsu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2022-01-01
Series:Tzu Chi Medical Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.tcmjmed.com/article.asp?issn=1016-3190;year=2022;volume=34;issue=2;spage=232;epage=238;aulast=Wang
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author Shu-Chen Wang
Kai-Chieh Hu
Wei-Chuan Chang
Chung-Y Hsu
author_facet Shu-Chen Wang
Kai-Chieh Hu
Wei-Chuan Chang
Chung-Y Hsu
author_sort Shu-Chen Wang
collection DOAJ
description Objectives: The prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and the number of patients undergoing dialysis in Taiwan are high. Since September 2009, the National Health Insurance has started to provide hospice care to patients with renal failure in Taiwan. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the use of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with ESRD on dialysis. We aim to understand trends in patients with ESRD receiving hospice and nonhospice care as well as medical care efforts during the last month of their lives (2009–2013). Materials and Methods: The cohort study was conducted using 1 million randomly selected samples from the Taiwan Health Insurance Research Database for millions of people in Taiwan in 2009–2013. Descriptive statistics were presented to summarize the characteristics of data. To compare differences between cohorts, Chi-square tests and Student's t-tests were used. Mann–Whitney U-tests were performed for nonnormally distributed data. Mantel–Haenszel test was test for trend. Results: We recruited 770 ESRD patients who underwent hemodialysis; among them, 154 patients received hospice care. Patients who received hospice care had a significantly longer survival time after removal of mechanical ventilator (20 vs. 0 days) and after discontinuation of dialysis (2 vs. 0 days) compared with those who did not receive hospice care. Patients who received hospice care had more pain control (61.04% vs. 17.37%, P < 0.0001) and other symptomatic control (55.84% vs. 43.18% with diuretics, P < 0.05; 64.29% and 48.21% with laxatives, P = 0.0004) medications than those who did not. Nevertheless, the overall medical cost in the hospice group was significantly lower (90 USD and 280 USD, P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the addition of hospice care may permit patients a longer life-support-free survival time. In addition, despite a more frequent symptomatic controlling agent use, hospice care significantly reduced the overall medical expenditure.
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spelling doaj-art-0b2d541fc87c4dc1a81c1e73c15427482025-08-20T02:03:43ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsTzu Chi Medical Journal1016-31902223-89562022-01-0134223223810.4103/tcmj.tcmj_207_21Utilization of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysisShu-Chen WangKai-Chieh HuWei-Chuan ChangChung-Y HsuObjectives: The prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and the number of patients undergoing dialysis in Taiwan are high. Since September 2009, the National Health Insurance has started to provide hospice care to patients with renal failure in Taiwan. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the use of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with ESRD on dialysis. We aim to understand trends in patients with ESRD receiving hospice and nonhospice care as well as medical care efforts during the last month of their lives (2009–2013). Materials and Methods: The cohort study was conducted using 1 million randomly selected samples from the Taiwan Health Insurance Research Database for millions of people in Taiwan in 2009–2013. Descriptive statistics were presented to summarize the characteristics of data. To compare differences between cohorts, Chi-square tests and Student's t-tests were used. Mann–Whitney U-tests were performed for nonnormally distributed data. Mantel–Haenszel test was test for trend. Results: We recruited 770 ESRD patients who underwent hemodialysis; among them, 154 patients received hospice care. Patients who received hospice care had a significantly longer survival time after removal of mechanical ventilator (20 vs. 0 days) and after discontinuation of dialysis (2 vs. 0 days) compared with those who did not receive hospice care. Patients who received hospice care had more pain control (61.04% vs. 17.37%, P < 0.0001) and other symptomatic control (55.84% vs. 43.18% with diuretics, P < 0.05; 64.29% and 48.21% with laxatives, P = 0.0004) medications than those who did not. Nevertheless, the overall medical cost in the hospice group was significantly lower (90 USD and 280 USD, P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the addition of hospice care may permit patients a longer life-support-free survival time. In addition, despite a more frequent symptomatic controlling agent use, hospice care significantly reduced the overall medical expenditure.http://www.tcmjmed.com/article.asp?issn=1016-3190;year=2022;volume=34;issue=2;spage=232;epage=238;aulast=Wangdialysisend-stage renal diseasehospice
spellingShingle Shu-Chen Wang
Kai-Chieh Hu
Wei-Chuan Chang
Chung-Y Hsu
Utilization of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis
Tzu Chi Medical Journal
dialysis
end-stage renal disease
hospice
title Utilization of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis
title_full Utilization of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis
title_fullStr Utilization of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis
title_full_unstemmed Utilization of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis
title_short Utilization of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis
title_sort utilization of hospice and nonhospice care in patients with end stage renal disease on dialysis
topic dialysis
end-stage renal disease
hospice
url http://www.tcmjmed.com/article.asp?issn=1016-3190;year=2022;volume=34;issue=2;spage=232;epage=238;aulast=Wang
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AT kaichiehhu utilizationofhospiceandnonhospicecareinpatientswithendstagerenaldiseaseondialysis
AT weichuanchang utilizationofhospiceandnonhospicecareinpatientswithendstagerenaldiseaseondialysis
AT chungyhsu utilizationofhospiceandnonhospicecareinpatientswithendstagerenaldiseaseondialysis