[Hospital admission in terminally ill cancer patients: a survey in the Umbrian Local Health Unit 2].

OBJECTIVE: describing, using administrative data, the extent and modalities of hospitalization in terminally ill cancer patients, residing in Local Health Unit (LHU) 2 of Umbria Region, Italy. DESIGN: retrospective cohort study based on current administrative data: Nominative Registry of Causes of Death (ReNCaM) and Hospital Discharge Records (HDR). SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: residents in LHU 2 dead of cancer (ICD9-CM categories: 140-239) in 2004-2006 (N=3,122). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: percentage of patients hospitalized within thirty days before death, percentage of those admitted to hospital within 2 days before death, percentage of patients discharged once dead, percentage of those discharged alive on the day of death. We used a multivariate logistic analysis model to assess the role played by the variables on the available indicators. RESULTS: percentage of patients hospitalized within thirty days before death was 56.5% (N=1,764) percentage of those admitted to hospital within 2 days before death was 9.0% (N=281) percentage of those discharged alive on the day of death was 24.4% (N=763); percentage of discharged alive on the day of death was 6,1% (N=190). The age group 40-59 years and any residence other than the District of Assisi (the first with a palliative care network), are factors associated with increased hospitalization in the terminally ill.