Abstract
e23514
Background: Palliative care has been associated with reduced patient symptom burden, improved physician satisfaction, and reduced cost of care. However, its use in primary bone tumors has not been well classified. Methods: This study retrospectively evaluated the use of palliative care in patients with primary malignant bone tumors (osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma & chordoma) diagnosed and recorded in the National Cancer Database (NCDB) between 2004 and 2018. Patients were identified by ICD-O-3 coding and patients with other malignancies were excluded. Cross Tabulations with Chi-square analysis was performed to evaluate frequencies of different patient and tumor characteristics. Multivariable logistic binary logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships between patient and tumor characteristics and the use of palliative care. Results: 24,401 patients with primary malignant bone tumors were identified. Overall, only 2.52% had any form of palliative care utilization. Of those receiving palliative care, 55.5-65.1% were treated with only non-curative surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or any combination of these modalities. Odds of palliative care were decreased for patients with chordomas, patients living more than 24 miles from the treatment facility, patients living in west-south-central or pacific states, or patients with private insurance, medicare, or unknown insurance status. Odds of palliative care were increased in patients with greater tumor diameter or unknown tumor size, tumors in the midline, increased tumor grade, stage 4 tumors, or patients living in urban areas. Conclusions: Palliative care use in patients with primary bone tumors increases with tumor stage, tumor grade, tumor size, midline tumors, or in patients living in urban areas, but overall utilization remains markedly low. Future studies should be done to investigate these patterns of care and help expand the utilization of palliative care.