[Care complexity and place of death in palliative home care]

Abstract

Objective: To examine the associations between the dimensions of the HexCom care complexity model and the place of death.

Method: Multicenter longitudinal observational study in patients with advanced illness cared for by home care support teams in Catalonia. Age, gender, type of illness, main caregiver, external support, place of death and the sub-areas of care complexity provided by HexCom were registered. A multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed.

Results: Participation of 1527 patients (72% oncology), cared for a median of 35 days. 45% died at home. The probability of dying at home was greater when a greater functional impairment was detected in the initial assessment (hazard ratio [HR]: 7.67; 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 4.93-11.92), when the patient was male (HR: 1.19; 95%CI: 1.02-1.39), was over 80 years old (HR: 1.41; 95%CI: 1.20-1.66) and when care complexity was detected in relation to being in a situation of last days (HR: 2.24; 95%CI: 1.69-2.97). It was more likely not to die at home in the case of cancer (HR: 0.76; 95%CI: 0.64-0.89), or if poor external support to the family group was detected in the first evaluation (HR: 0.79; 95%CI: 0.67-0.93), or that the patient did not feel at peace with others (HR: 0.56; 95%CI: 0.40-0.79), or lack of agreement on the planning of the place of death (HR: 0.57; 95%CI: 0.48-0.68).

Conclusions: The assessment of the complexity of care through the HexCom-Clin model can help to improve advance planning of decisions by incorporating among its dimensions the feeling of peace with others, the external support to the family nucleus and the degree of agreement on the place of death.

Keywords: Actitud frente a la muerte; Advance care planning; Attitude to death; Cuidados paliativos; Evaluación de necesidades; Home care services; Needs assessment; Palliative care; Planificación anticipada de atención; Servicios de atención de salud a domicilio.