Opioid use in dying patients in hospice and hospital, with and without specialist palliative care team involvement

Abstract

Newspapers claim that patients in hospices have their opioid doses increased to a point at which doctors know that they will die. However, research has produced conflicting results about whether hospice patients receive higher doses of opioids. This study investigated the differences in opioid prescribing between cancer patients dying in hospice and hospital with and without hospital palliative care team (HPCT) involvement and non-cancer patients dying in hospital, in Dundee, UK. The only statistically significant difference in the mean dose of opioids was that the cancer patients were prescribed and received higher doses of opioids than non-cancer patients. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean dose of opioids prescribed to and given to the different groups of cancer patients dying in different settings, indicating that the claims of the press are untrue. The cancer patients dying in hospital who were not on the HPCT records more commonly received Tramadol, which may indicate a reluctance of hospital doctors to move from weak opioids to strong opioids.