Prediction of Survival Time in Advanced Lung Cancer: A Retrospective Study in Home-Based Palliative Care Unit

Abstract

Background: There is a large group of patients suffering from lung cancer and receiving home hospice care in China. However, little is known about the prediction of their survival time. The purpose of this study was to determine whether quality of life independently predicts survival among advanced lung cancer survivors who are receiving home-based palliative care. Methods: In this retrospective study, we analyzed data from 937 advanced lung cancer patients who had received home-based palliative care between March 2010 and March 2020. We used Kaplan-Meier survival curves to determine the factors associated with survival time and applied the Cox proportional hazards model to examine the effect of quality of life on survival. Results: The study included 928 patients with a mean age of 63 years; and 72.1% of them were men. Factors associated with shortened survival included age, sex, place of residence, weight loss, anorexia, nausea, edema, quality of life, and Karnofsky performance status. After adjusting for other variables in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model, we found that quality of life was an independent positive predictor of survival. Conclusions: As an independent factor predicting the survival of advanced lung cancer patients, quality of life should be taken seriously. Medical staff and healthcare workers need to pay special attention to this predictive factor since it may serve as early risk identification indicator for professionals who provide home-based palliative care, helping them to create effective personalized care plans.

The chain mediating effect of spiritual well‐being and anticipatory grief between benefit finding and meaning in life of patients with advanced lung cancer: Empirical research quantitative

“…Patients diagnosed with advanced lung cancer face a challenging prognosis characterized by a high likelihood of recurrence and persistent health threats like dyspnea. These factors exacerbate the experience of anticipatory grief, amplifying its impact on patients' emotional well‐being (Cui et al., 2023 ). Anticipatory grief contributes to a gradual decline in patients' physical condition, serving as an early indicator of illness progression.…”

Meta-Analysis of Effects of Early Palliative Care on Health-Related Outcomes Among Advanced Cancer Patients

“…Lengthy cancer experience and anticancer treatments make patients experience a wide range of problems, and symptoms and side effects are widespread and often demoralizing (Candido et al, 2017; Galiano et al, 2022). Therefore, the fundamental challenge at present is to provide care for advanced cancer patients to improve their quality of life while simultaneously extending survival (Cui et al, 2023; Malhotra et al, 2017). Previous studies have shown growth in negative emotions of advanced patients with greater proximity to death (Alam et al, 2020; Lo et al, 2010); approximately 20%–65% of patients are subjected to multiple negative experiences at the end of their lives (Bail et al, 2018).…”