Place of death among cancer patients included in the RIMCAN. From home to in-hospital

Objective: to describe where patients died and related trends between 1991 and 2008. Patients included in a Spanish cancer mortality registry (RIMCAN). Method: a retrospective observational study. Data came from RIMCAN, a registry of voluntary reports of cancer mortality cases in populations served by primary care physicians. Field of study: primary healthcare Results: a total of 2852 reports were studied; 66.1% were males. Mean age was 70.8 +/- 12.9 years. More frequent cancers included lung, stomach and colorectal malignancies. The percentage who died at home in the whole interval studied was 62%, and in the hospital 35.7%. The percentage who died at home fell from 75.3% in 1993 to 32.4% in 2008. Older patients who had a longer survival and those who were bedridden at home in the terminal period were more likely to die at home. Conclusion: these results demonstrate a trend toward hospital death over the interval 1991-2008. This trend should be taken into consideration for future health service planning.