Association between end-of-life cancer care and immigrant status: a retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada

Objective To compare recent immigrants and long-term residents in Ontario, Canada, on established health service quality indicators of end-of-life cancer care.Design Retrospective, population-based cohort study of cancer decedents between 2004 and 2015.Setting Ontario, Canada.Participants We grouped...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hsien Seow, Anna Chu, Rinku Sutradhar, Lisa Barbera, Urun Erbas Oz, Erin O'Leary
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2021-06-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/6/e042978.full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846162944966000640
author Hsien Seow
Anna Chu
Rinku Sutradhar
Lisa Barbera
Urun Erbas Oz
Erin O'Leary
author_facet Hsien Seow
Anna Chu
Rinku Sutradhar
Lisa Barbera
Urun Erbas Oz
Erin O'Leary
author_sort Hsien Seow
collection DOAJ
description Objective To compare recent immigrants and long-term residents in Ontario, Canada, on established health service quality indicators of end-of-life cancer care.Design Retrospective, population-based cohort study of cancer decedents between 2004 and 2015.Setting Ontario, Canada.Participants We grouped 13 085 immigrants who arrived in Ontario in 1985 or later into eight major ethnic groups based on birth country, mother tongue and surname, and compared them to 229 471 long-term residents who were ≥18 years at the time of death.Primary and secondary outcome measures Aggressive care, defined as a composite of ≥2 emergency department visits, ≥2 new hospitalisations or an intensive care unit admission within 30 days of death; and supportive care, defined as a physician house call within 2 weeks, or palliative nursing or personal support worker home visit within 6 months of death. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the association between immigration status and the odds of each main outcome.Results Compared with long-term residents, immigrants overall and by ethnic group had higher rates of aggressive care (13.7% vs 17.5%, respectively; p<0.001). Among immigrants, Southeast Asians had the highest use while White-Eastern and Western Europeans had the lowest. Supportive care use was similar between long-term residents and immigrants (50.0% vs 50.5%, respectively; p=0.36), though lower among Southeast Asians (46.6%) and higher among White-Western Europeans (55.6%). After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and comorbidities, immigrants remained more likely than long-term residents to receive aggressive care (OR: 1.15, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.21), yet were less likely to receive supportive care (OR: 0.95, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.98).Conclusions Among cancer decedents in Ontario, immigrants are more likely to use aggressive healthcare services at the end of life than long-term residents, while supportive care varies by ethnicity. Contributors to variation in end-of-life care require further study.
format Article
id doaj-art-f0e710d3634a4259bd617e02a94f616c
institution Kabale University
issn 2044-6055
language English
publishDate 2021-06-01
publisher BMJ Publishing Group
record_format Article
series BMJ Open
spelling doaj-art-f0e710d3634a4259bd617e02a94f616c2024-11-19T23:15:08ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552021-06-0111610.1136/bmjopen-2020-042978Association between end-of-life cancer care and immigrant status: a retrospective cohort study in Ontario, CanadaHsien Seow0Anna Chu1Rinku Sutradhar2Lisa Barbera3Urun Erbas Oz4Erin O'Leary57 McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada2 ICES, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada1 Radiation Oncology, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, Alberta, CanadaInstitute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaICES, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaObjective To compare recent immigrants and long-term residents in Ontario, Canada, on established health service quality indicators of end-of-life cancer care.Design Retrospective, population-based cohort study of cancer decedents between 2004 and 2015.Setting Ontario, Canada.Participants We grouped 13 085 immigrants who arrived in Ontario in 1985 or later into eight major ethnic groups based on birth country, mother tongue and surname, and compared them to 229 471 long-term residents who were ≥18 years at the time of death.Primary and secondary outcome measures Aggressive care, defined as a composite of ≥2 emergency department visits, ≥2 new hospitalisations or an intensive care unit admission within 30 days of death; and supportive care, defined as a physician house call within 2 weeks, or palliative nursing or personal support worker home visit within 6 months of death. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the association between immigration status and the odds of each main outcome.Results Compared with long-term residents, immigrants overall and by ethnic group had higher rates of aggressive care (13.7% vs 17.5%, respectively; p<0.001). Among immigrants, Southeast Asians had the highest use while White-Eastern and Western Europeans had the lowest. Supportive care use was similar between long-term residents and immigrants (50.0% vs 50.5%, respectively; p=0.36), though lower among Southeast Asians (46.6%) and higher among White-Western Europeans (55.6%). After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and comorbidities, immigrants remained more likely than long-term residents to receive aggressive care (OR: 1.15, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.21), yet were less likely to receive supportive care (OR: 0.95, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.98).Conclusions Among cancer decedents in Ontario, immigrants are more likely to use aggressive healthcare services at the end of life than long-term residents, while supportive care varies by ethnicity. Contributors to variation in end-of-life care require further study.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/6/e042978.full
spellingShingle Hsien Seow
Anna Chu
Rinku Sutradhar
Lisa Barbera
Urun Erbas Oz
Erin O'Leary
Association between end-of-life cancer care and immigrant status: a retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada
BMJ Open
title Association between end-of-life cancer care and immigrant status: a retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada
title_full Association between end-of-life cancer care and immigrant status: a retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada
title_fullStr Association between end-of-life cancer care and immigrant status: a retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada
title_full_unstemmed Association between end-of-life cancer care and immigrant status: a retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada
title_short Association between end-of-life cancer care and immigrant status: a retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada
title_sort association between end of life cancer care and immigrant status a retrospective cohort study in ontario canada
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/6/e042978.full
work_keys_str_mv AT hsienseow associationbetweenendoflifecancercareandimmigrantstatusaretrospectivecohortstudyinontariocanada
AT annachu associationbetweenendoflifecancercareandimmigrantstatusaretrospectivecohortstudyinontariocanada
AT rinkusutradhar associationbetweenendoflifecancercareandimmigrantstatusaretrospectivecohortstudyinontariocanada
AT lisabarbera associationbetweenendoflifecancercareandimmigrantstatusaretrospectivecohortstudyinontariocanada
AT urunerbasoz associationbetweenendoflifecancercareandimmigrantstatusaretrospectivecohortstudyinontariocanada
AT erinoleary associationbetweenendoflifecancercareandimmigrantstatusaretrospectivecohortstudyinontariocanada