Hospice care was linked with better symptom relief, patient-goal attainment, and quality of end of life care in a study involving more than 2,300 families of deceased cancer patients.

Investigators interviewed families of patients who had died from advanced lung or colorectal cancer. They compared family-reported outcomes for patients who did and did not receive hospice care, as well as the links between hospice length of stay and outcomes.

Families of patients enrolled in hospice reported more pain in their patient vs those whose patient was not in hospice. However, 80% of them said their patient received “just the right amount” of pain medicine, vs 73% of those whose patient was not enrolled in hospice. Other differences included:

• Help with dyspnea: 78% vs 70%.
• End of life wishes followed: 80% vs 74%.
• “Excellent” quality end of life care: 57% vs 42%.

Families of patients who received >30 days of hospice care reported the highest quality end of life outcomes.