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Hospital at home: home‐based end‐of‐life care

This is not the most recent version

Background

The policy in a number of countries is to provide people with a terminal illness the choice of dying at home. This policy is supported by surveys indicating that the general public and people with a terminal illness would prefer to receive end‐of‐life care at home. This is the fourth update of the original review.

Objectives

To determine if providing home‐based end‐of‐life care reduces the likelihood of dying in hospital and what effect this has on patients' symptoms, quality of life, health service costs, and caregivers, compared with inpatient hospital or hospice care.

Search methods

We searched the following databases until April 2015: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (the Cochrane Library), Ovid MEDLINE(R) (from 1950), EMBASE (from 1980), CINAHL (from 1982), and EconLit (from 1969). We checked the reference lists of potentially relevant articles identified and handsearched palliative care publications, clinical trials registries, and a database of systematic reviews for related trials (PDQ‐Evidence 2015).

Selection criteria

Randomised controlled trials, interrupted time series, or controlled before and after studies evaluating the effectiveness of home‐based end‐of‐life care with inpatient hospital or hospice care for people aged 18 years and older.

Data collection and analysis

Two review authors independently extracted data and assessed study quality. We combined the published data for dichotomous outcomes using fixed‐effect Mantel‐Haenszel meta‐analysis. When combining outcome data was not possible, we reported the results from individual studies.

Main results

We included four trials in this review and did not identify new studies from the search in April 2015. Home‐based end‐of‐life care increased the likelihood of dying at home compared with usual care (risk ratio (RR) 1.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14 to 1.55, P = 0.0002; Chi2 = 1.72, df = 2, P = 0.42, I2 = 0%; 3 trials; N = 652; high quality evidence). Admission to hospital while receiving home‐based end‐of‐life care varied between trials, and this was reflected by a high level of statistical heterogeneity in this analysis (range RR 0.62 to RR 2.61; 4 trials; N = 823; moderate quality evidence). Home‐based end‐of‐life care may slightly improve patient satisfaction at one‐month follow‐up and reduce it at six‐month follow‐up (2 trials; low quality evidence). The effect on caregivers is uncertain (2 trials; low quality evidence). The intervention may slightly reduce healthcare costs (2 trials, low quality evidence). No trial reported costs to patients and caregivers.

Authors' conclusions

The evidence included in this review supports the use of home‐based end‐of‐life care programmes for increasing the number of people who will die at home, although the numbers of people admitted to hospital while receiving end‐of‐life care should be monitored. Future research should systematically assess the impact of home‐based end‐of‐life care on caregivers.

PICOs

Population
Intervention
Comparison
Outcome

The PICO model is widely used and taught in evidence-based health care as a strategy for formulating questions and search strategies and for characterizing clinical studies or meta-analyses. PICO stands for four different potential components of a clinical question: Patient, Population or Problem; Intervention; Comparison; Outcome.

See more on using PICO in the Cochrane Handbook.

Plain language summary

Home‐based end‐of‐life care

Background

A number of countries have invested in health services to provide care at home to people with a terminal illness who wish to die at home. The preferences of the general public and people with a terminal illness seem to support this, as most people indicate that they would prefer to receive end‐of‐life care at home.

Objectives

We systematically reviewed the literature to see if the provision of end‐of‐life home‐based care reduced the likelihood of dying in hospital and what effect this has on patients' and caregivers' satisfaction and health service costs, compared with being admitted to a hospital or hospice. This is the fourth update of the original review.

Study characteristics

We searched the literature until April 2015 and found no new trials for this update. We found four trials for the previous updates.

Main results

We included four trials in our review and report that people receiving end‐of‐life care at home are more likely to die at home. It is unclear whether home‐based end‐of‐life care increases or decreases the probability of being admitted to hospital. Admission to hospital while receiving home‐based end‐of‐life care varied between trials. People who receive end‐of‐life care at home may be slightly more satisfied after one month and less satisfied after six months. It is unclear whether home‐based end‐of‐life care reduces or increases caregiver burden. Healthcare costs are uncertain, and no data on costs to participants and their families were reported.

Authors' conclusions

People who receive end‐of‐life care at home are more likely to die at home. There were few data on the impact of home‐based end‐of‐life services on family members and lay caregivers.