End-of-Life Care and Impact of Palliative Home Care in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Use of palliative home care services was pursued by a minority of ALS patients but was associated with less time in intensive care and a lower likelihood of dying in the hospital.

The relentless, progressive nature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) culminating in respiratory failure renders planning for and implementation of end-of-life care an integral component of caring for ALS patients. End-of-life care for all disorders is associated with increased healthcare service use. Palliative services are associated with fewer hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) visits and more cost-effective care. Investigators retrospectively compared end-of-life care outcomes and healthcare service use and costs for ALS decedents and for non-ALS decedents over a 3-year period, using databases available through Ontario, Canada's universal healthcare system.

Few decedents had ALS (0.43% of 283,096 decedents), yet they were more li…

Reviewing Author

Robert Bucelli, MD, PhD

End-of-Life Care and Impact of Palliative Home Care in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Topics

Reviewing Author