The comparison of the medical costs and quality of life in terminal cancer patients by the types of medical facilities

Yeom, Chang Hwan; Choi, Youn Seon; Lee, Hye Ree; Shim, Jae Yong; Hong, Young Seon; Choe, Wha Sook; Park, Young Ran

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Life expectancy is ever increasing due to medical advancements, but cancer death rate is also increased. Quality of life is an important issue in cancer patients. Despite developments of early diagnosis and treatments for cancer, the medical costs is increasing due to exfended sarvival against cancer and the absolute numbers of terminal cancer patients. We assessed the medical costs and quality of life in terminal cancer patients by the types of medical facilities, which would contribute to effective management. METHOD: A total 159 patients(males 70, females 89) with terminal cancer patients who were treated and died in various types of medical facilities(home hospice, charity hospital hospice unit, university hospital hospice unit, university hospital non-hospice unit) between November 1, 1997 and January 31, 1999 were included in the study. After the confirmation that the demographic factors correlated with factors of quality of life, the differences in the medical costs and quality of life(pain, depression, ADLs, family APGAR score) during the last 1 week of life in the various types of medical facilities analyzed by multi-way ANOVA with interaction of the significant demographic factors.
RESULTS
The mean cost of types of medical facilities during the last week of patients as 65332.5 won in charity hospital hospice unit, 105165.5 won in home hospice, 702083.4 won in university hospital hospice unit, and 1037358.6 won in university hospital non-hospice unit. The difference between free hospital hospice unit and home hospice in medical costs as not statistically significant, but the difference among charity hospital hospice unit and home hospice, university hospital hospice unit, and university hospital non-hospice unit as significant (p<0.001). The demographical factors of quality of life in terms of pain, depression, ADLs, and family APGAR score were compared among various facilities. The ADL score of home hospice was 8.2 +/- 3.3, which was lower than free hospital hospice unit and university hospital hospice unit(p<0.05). The mean pain scor of home hospice as 1.7+/-1.7 and that of university hospital hospice as 1.2+/-1.2, and pain scores of home hospice were lower than free hospital hospice unit, and pain scores of university hospital hospice were lower than free hospital hospice unit and university hospital non-hospice unit(p<0.05). In depression's categorial scale of home hospice the score was 4.8+/-1.3, which was higher than those of free hospital hospice unit and university hospital non-hospice unit(p<0.05), signifying less depression. The family APGAR score was statistically insignificant among various types of medical facilities.
CONCLUSION
The cost of hospice care is less than the non-hospice care. We found that the patients of home hospice experienced less pain and depression even with low ADLs, and increased the quality of life in both psychological and physical aspects.