How do we model our lives from the time of a major diagnosis to death?Illness trajectories are one method, and they can help frame a conversation about what life will be like with a progressive illness.The three characteristic trajectories of decline are rapid (typically cancer), intermittent (declining organ function), and gradual (advanced frailty, neurological conditions, or major stroke).They can be used to inform person centred care and enable advance care planning.The trajectories may appear abstract, but the lives they describe are very real.
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Kamran Abbasi (2024) studied this question.
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