Survival of cancer patients under treatment with the palliative care team in a Brazilian hospital in São Paulo

Abstract

Introduction: The Karnofsky Performance Status Scale is a relevant functional evaluation instrument that can be used to determine which patients should be followed by multidisciplinary palliative care teams. Objective: To analyze the clinical outcomes of patients with performance status lower than 70%, according to the Karnofsky Scale, who received care from a palliative care team compared to those who did not receive care from a palliative care team. Methods: In this retrospective cohort, follow-up of cancer patients by the palliative care team for 10 days was considered the exposure factor, while the dependent variable was patient survival. Data were extracted from medical records and descriptive and survival curve analyses were conducted. Results: Among 581 participants in the sample, 42.5% had metastasis, and the most prevalent medical diagnosis was gastrointestinal cancer (29.1%). Fifty-one (8.7%) were followed by the palliative care team. The mortality rate during the 10 days in the sample was 10.8%, and the rate was higher (15.7%) among patients followed by the palliative care team. Conclusion: Patients with a performance status below 70% who were followed by the palliative care team had poorer clinical conditions and a shorter survival than those who were not followed up by the team. Keywords: palliative care, cancer patients, Karnofsky Performance Status, survival analysis