Purpose To investigate the extent of objective 'non-beneficial treatments (NBTs)'(too much)
anytime in the last 6 months of life in routine hospital care. Data sources English language …

Population aging is accelerating rapidly worldwide with increasing numbers of elderly
patients being admitted to ICUs. In the USA elderly patients currently account for 42–52% of …

Purpose Physicians have an ethical obligation to honor patients' values for care, including at
the end of life (EOL). We sought to evaluate factors that help patients to receive care …

Background Life-sustaining medical care of patients with advanced cancer at the end of life
(EOL) is costly. Patient-physician discussions about EOL wishes are associated with lower …

Importance More patients with cancer use hospice currently than ever before, but there are
indications that care intensity outside of hospice is increasing, and length of hospice stay …

Objective. To update research on Medicare payments in the last year of life. Data Sources.
Continuous Medicare History Sample, containing annual summaries of claims data on a 5 …

Background Although the extent of hospital and intensive-care use at the end of life is well
known, patterns of surgical care during this period are poorly understood. We examined …

Context Although hospital mortality has decreased over time in the United States for patients
who receive intensive care, little is known about subsequent outcomes for those discharged …

Objective: We sought to test whether variations across regions in end-of-life (EOL) treatment
intensity are associated with regional differences in patient preferences for EOL care …

Rationale: The United States has seven times as many intensive care unit (ICU) beds per
capita as the United Kingdom; the effect on care of critically ill patients is unknown …