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Studies have reported overly aggressive end-of-life care (EOLC) in many cancers. We investigate trends in, and factors associated with, aggressive EOLC among patients who died of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers in Ontario, Canada.

All patients with primary cause of death from esophageal, gastric, colon, and anorectal cancer from January 2003 to December 2013 were identified through the Ontario Cancer Registry, and information was collected from linked databases. Outcomes representing aggressive EOLC were assessed: administration of chemotherapy, any emergency department (ED) visits, hospital admissions, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions (all within 30 days of death), death in hospital and in ICU, and a composite outcome representing any aggressive EOLC. Temporal trends were analyzed using the Cochran-Armitage test.

There were 34 630 patients in the cohort: 43 …