End-of-life care in oxygen-dependent COPD and cancer: a national population-based study

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of mortality worldwide [1], and is associated with high morbidity and poor symptom control for long periods of time as the disease progresses [2]. At the end of life, COPD patients have a symptom burden comparable to, and often greater than, that associated with cancer [3]. Comparison between COPD and cancer is relevant because cancer patients have well-established palliative care programmes. Despite having extensive and similar end-of-life (EOL) needs to cancer patients, studies report unrelieved symptoms and low referral rates to palliative care in advanced COPD patients [4]. COPD patients have a high symptom burden but receive less palliative care than cancer patients at the end of life The work was carried out at the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Blekinge Hospital, Karlskrona, and Lund University, Lund, Sweden. We thank Bengt Midgren (Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden) for his valuable insights, Greger Fransson (Palliative Care Services, Stockholms Sjukhem Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden) for database management, and all the physicians and nurses who collected the data and cared for the patients.