ArticleBMJ public health2026
How does patient complexity differ between people with and without cancer who access specialist community palliative care? A comparative analysis study in Western Sydney specialist community palliative care.
Article in BMJ public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: This study describes patient characteristics on entry and episode outcomes among patients admitted to an Australian community-based specialist palliative care service, comparing patients admitted with a cancer diagnosis with those admitted with a non-cancer diagnosis. Methods: We conducted a comparative analysis of patients who were discharged from Specialist Community Palliative Care Service and received at least one episode of care between 1 July 2017 and 28 February 2023. We considered outcomes for socio-demographic characteristics, diagnoses and comorbidity burden, palliative care needs on admission to the service, episode duration and place of death. Results: A total of 4116 distinct patients were included in the study. A quarter (26.0%) of the cohort were aged <65 years and almost half were culturally or linguistically diverse. Most (78.6%) were admitted with a cancer diagnosis, predominantly originating in the lung (23.1%, n=747), digestive system (21.3%, n=689) or genitourinary system (12.9%, n=418). Cardiovascular conditions were most common among patients admitted with non-cancer diagnosis (19.3%), followed by respiratory conditions (16.9%) and genitourinary conditions (13.9%). Dementia was present for 10.3% of patients with a non-cancer diagnosis on admission. Patients with a non-cancer diagnosis had more comorbidities (median=8 vs 5), they were more commonly frail and took more medications (median=7 vs 6) in comparison to patients with malignancy. On admission, patients with a non-cancer diagnosis had significantly lower functional scores for activities of daily living and were less likely to enter the service in a stable phase. However, patients with a non-cancer diagnosis were more likely to die at home and die in their preferred place compared with patients with cancer (p=<0.001). Conclusions: Cancer and non-cancer cohorts of patients admitted to community palliative care services have different admission characteristics and service needs. Both groups have complex requirements, and further investment in palliative care should target optimal community-based models that positively influence early entry, patient-centred care and death in place of choice.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.