For this multicenter study, we recruited adult advanced cancer inpatients who had been admitted to seven palliative care units with estimated survival of <3 months. We measured spirituality at admission using the Korean version of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-sp), which comprises two subscales: meaning/peace and faith. We calculated a Kaplan-Meier curve for spirituality, dichotomized at the predefined cutoffs and medians for the total scale and each of the two subscales, and performed univariate regression with a Cox proportional hazard model. Result We enrolled a total of 204 adults (mean age: 64.5 ± 13.0; 48.5% female) in the study. The most common primary cancer diagnoses were lung (21.6%), colorectal (18.6%), and liver/biliary tract (13.0%). Median survival was 19.5 days (95% confidence interval [CI 95%]: 23.5, 30.6). Total FACIT-sp score was not related to survival time (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.981, CI 95% = 0.957, 1.007), and neither were the scores for its two subscales, meaning/peace (HR = 0.969, CI 95% = 0.932, 1.008) and faith (HR = 0.981, CI 95% = 0.938, 1.026). Significance of results Spirituality was not related to survival in advanced cancer inpatients in Korea. Plausible mechanisms merit further investigation.

In patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), transfusion therapies have shown to reduce the risk of strokes in patients with abnormal cerebral blood flow. The current guidelines for pediatric patients with SCD recommend monthly transfusions using red cell exchange (RCE) to maintain the pediatric patient's sickle hemoglobin (HbS) below 30% between treatments. However, it is not clear how much RCE is needed to achieve this goal. Our objective was to find a target post-RCE HbS (post-HbS) level, following which our patients' HbS would remain below 30% between monthly RCE. We identified RCE events for pediatric patients ≤ 20 years old with the HbSS genotype and receiving monthly RCE therapy. HbS results were categorized into post-HbS and follow-up RCE HbS (F/u-HbS) from twenty two to forty days later. Two hundred and seventy two complete sets of data from 14 patients were identified from 2000 to 2015. No particular level of post-HbS accurately predicts the exact level of F/u-HbS. Of patients with post-HbS of 5-10%, 67% had F/u-HbS < 30%. Additionally only 20% of patients with post-HbS of 10-15% had F/u-HbS < 30%. Reduction of post-HbS to 5-10% was found to be the most effective in maintaining the HbS level < 30% between monthly RCE.