Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of hospice and palliative care(HPC) on medical treatment status of hospitalized elderly patients at the end of life. Methods The medical records of the dead elderly patients from 2014 to 2021 in the Department of Geriatrics of our hospital were reviewed retrospectively. The general information, willingness to cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR), application of life-sustaining treatments and end-of-life care measures were recorded. The patients were divided into 2014-2017 group(the patients did not receive HPC, n=131) and 2018-2021 group(the patients received HPC, n=123). Results There were no significant differences in age, gender, physical functional status, times of hospitalization in 1 year, length of hospitalization, cause of death between the two groups(P>0.05). There were significant differences in oral medication number, the proportions of polypharmacy, mechanical ventilation and albumin infusions between the two groups(P<0.05). There were no differences in the proportions of preference of do-not-resuscitate(DNR) and external cardiac compression between the two groups. The differences in the proportions of using electric defibrillation, bag mask ventilation, vasopressors and respiratory stimulant between the two groups were statistically significant(P＜0.05). Subgroup analysis showed that the proportions of polypharmacy(37.3% vs 51.4%, P<0.05), using vasopressors(49.0% vs 77.8%, P<0.05) and respiratory stimulant(15.7% vs 50.0%, P<0.05)were further decreased in 2020-2021 compared with 2018-2019. Conclusions For the elderly patients at the end of life, HPC can reduce the application of some life-sustaining treatment and futile medical resource use before death.

Key words: hospice, palliative care, end of life, aged, life-sustaining treatment