End-of-life care for patients with advanced ovarian cancer in the Netherlands: A retrospective registry-based analysis.

e17612 Background: Patients with advanced ovarian cancer have a poor prognosis and can experience debilitating abdominal symptoms in the last phase of life. Several analyses, mainly performed in the United States (US), show high rates of chemotherapy administration, and emergency room and hospital visits near the end-of-life in this patient category. No large European studies are available, while the organisation of palliative care differs between the US and Europe and between European countries. We aimed to analyse the intensity of inpatient care near the end-of-life in the Netherlands and perform a cross-study comparison with previous reports. Methods: All patients with ovarian cancer that died in 2016 and 2017 were identified from the database of the foundation Dutch Hospital Data (DHD). For the last six months of life the following parameters of aggressive care were extracted: administration of chemotherapy, emergency room (ER) visits, surgical procedures, hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. Data were analysed for the cohort as a whole and separately for three age categories: < 60, 60-75 and > 75 years of age. The intensity of inpatient care was compared to previously reported European and US data. Results: A total of 2172 patients died with ovarian cancer in 2016 and 2017 in the Netherlands. Data on medical care use was available for 1775 patients. During the last 6 months of life, chemotherapy was given to half of the ovarian cancer patients and the same percentage of patients was admitted to hospital. Chemotherapy administration near the end-of-life was infrequent, with only 12% of patients receiving chemotherapy in the last month of life. Surgery and ICU admissions in the final 6 months of life were rare (< 10%). Our cohort showed the lowest percentages of all five indicators of aggressive care reported thus far. The use of chemotherapy in the six months prior to death was highest in patients 60-75 years of age compared to younger or older patients. ER visits and hospital admissions were less frequent in patients > 75 years of age compared to the younger age groups. Conclusions: Aggressive medical care use in the final 6 months of life in this Dutch cohort of ovarian cancer patients was lower than in other previously reported cohorts.