Recent Studies from Virginia University Medical Center Add New Data to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Relating cause of death with place of…

Recent Studies from Virginia University Medical Center Add New Data to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Relating cause of death with place of care and healthcare costs in the last year of life for patients who died from cancer, chronic ...)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Mental Health Weekly Digest -- Fresh data on Lung Diseases and Conditions - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease are presented in a new report. According to news reporting out of Amsterdam, Netherlands, by NewsRx editors, research stated, "The four main diagnostic groups for palliative care provision are cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure and dementia. But comparisons of costs and care in the last year of life are mainly directed at cancer versus non-cancer or within cancer patients."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Virginia University Medical Center, "Our aim is to compare the care and expenditures in their last year of life for Dutch patients with cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure or dementia. Data from insurance company Achmea (2009-2010) were linked to information on long-term care at home or in an institution, the National Hospital Registration and Causes of Death-Registry from Statistics Netherlands. For patients who died of cancer (n=8658), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n=1637), heart failure (n=1505) or dementia (n=3586), frequencies and means were calculated, Lorenz curves were drawn up and logistic regression was used to compare patients with high versus low expenditures. For decedents with cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the highest costs were for hospital admissions. For decedents with heart failure, the highest costs were for the care home (last 360 days) and hospital admissions (last 30 days). For decedents with dementia, the highest costs were for the nursing home. Patients with dementia had the highest expenditures due to nursing home care. The number of dementia patients will double by the year 2030, resulting in even higher economic burdens than presently."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Policy regarding patients with chronic conditions should be informed by research on expenditures within the context of preferences and needs of patients and carers."

For more information on this research see: Relating cause of death with place of care and healthcare costs in the last year of life for patients who died from cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure and dementia: A descriptive study using registry data. Palliative Medicine, 2017;():269216316685029. Palliative Medicine can be contacted at: SAGE Publications, USA , 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA. (Sage Publications - www.sagepub.com/; Palliative Medicine - pmj.sagepub.com)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A.G. van der Plas, 1 Dept. of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Additional authors for this research include M.G. Oosterveld-Vlug, H.R. Pasman and B.D Onwuteaka-Philipsen (see also Lung Diseases and Conditions - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).

Publisher contact information for the journal Palliative Medicine is: SAGE Publications, USA , 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA.

Keywords for this news article include: Europe, Cancer, Dementia, Hospital, Oncology, Amsterdam, Cardiology, Netherlands, Heart Disease, Heart Failure, Heart Disorders and Diseases, Lung Diseases and Conditions, Brain Diseases and Conditions, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Cardiovascular Diseases and Conditions, Neurodegenerative Diseases and Conditions.

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