Bereaved family members of cancer patient are at risk of having psychological problems such as anxiety and depression. However, prevalence and associated factors of anxiety and depressive symptoms among this population have not been explored in Korea.We conducted a nation-wide cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 3522 bereaved family members of cancer patients who died at 44 hospice palliative care unit (HPCU) in Korea in 2012. The questionnaire comprised the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Good Death Inventory (GDI). Deceased patient's age, sex, primary site of cancer, duration of stay at HPCU, awareness of terminal status, bereaved family member's age, sex, and relation to the deceased were collected from Korean Terminal Cancer Patients Information System.1121 returned questionnaires were analyzed (response rate, 31.8%). Using a cut-off value of 8 for HADS subscale, the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms was 48.0% and 57.6%, respectively. Mean scores for HADS-A and HADS-D were 7.88 ± 4.87 and 8.91 ± 4.82, respectively. Among the bereaved, older age, being a spouse to the deceased, family members of younger patient, and negative score for a few GDI items were significantly associated with an increased risk of having anxiety or depressive symptoms in the multivariate logistic analysis.In conclusion, we noted the high prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among the bereaved of cancer patients and identified associated factors for these psychological morbidities. Systematic efforts are needed to improve the mental health of the bereaved family members of cancer patients.

The National Hospice and Palliative Care (NHPC) registry is a nationwide database in Korea that systematically collects information on terminally ill cancer patients receiving inpatient hospice care. From 2018 to 2020, a total of 47,911 patients were enrolled in the NHPC registry from hospitals providing inpatient hospice care. The NHPC database mainly contains the socio-demographic and clinical information of the registered patients. Among these patients, approximately 75% were 60 years or older, and the ratio of males to females was 1:1.41. Lung, liver, colorectal, pancreatic, and gastric cancer made up nearly 90% of the cancer sites among the registered patients. Upon their initial admission to the hospice ward, around 80% of the patients were aware of their terminal illness. About half of the patients had mild pain at the time of the initial admission to the hospice ward, and the duration of hospice care was 14 days (interquartile range, 6-30) in 2019 and 2020. The NHPC registry aims to provide national statistics on inpatient hospice care to assist health policy-making.

Woorim Kim, Kyuwoong Kim, Eun Jeong Nam, Sue Hyun Kye, Jin Young Choi. HIRA Research 2024;4:63-72. https://doi.org/10.52937/hira.24.4.1.e1

Jinyoung Shin, M.D., Yoon Jung Chang, M.D., So-Jung Park, M.D., Jin Young Choi, Ph.D., Sun-Hyun Kim, M.D., Youn Seon Choi, M.D., Nam Hee Kim, M.D., Ho-Kee Yum, M.D., Eun Mi Nam, M.D., Myung Hee Park, R.N., Nayeon Moon, M.D., Jee Youn Moon, M.D., Hee-Taik Kang, M.D., Jung Hun Kang, M.D., Jae-Min Park, M.D., Chung-Woo Lee, M.D., Seon-Young Kim, M.D., Eun Jeong Lee, R.N., Su-Jin Koh, M.D., Yonghwan Kim, M.D., Myongjin Agnes Cho, M.D., Youhyun Song, M.D. and Jae Yong Shim, M.D.. Korean J Hosp Palliat Care 2020;23:103-13. https://doi.org/10.14475/kjhpc.2020.23.3.103

Background: This study aimed to investigate the trends of aggressive care at the end-of-life (EoL) for patients with advanced cancer in Korea and to identify factors affecting such care analyzing nationwide data between 2012 to 2018. Methods: This was a population-based, retrospective nationwide study. We used administrative data from the National Health Insurance Service and the Korea Central Cancer Registry to analyze 125,350 patients aged 20 years and above who died within one year of a stage IV cancer diagnosis between 2012 and 2018. Results: The overall aggressiveness of EoL care decreased between 2012 and 2018. In patients’ last month of life, chemotherapy use (37.1% to 32.3%; p < 0.05), cardiopulmonary resuscitation (13.2% to 10.4%; p < 0.05), and intensive care unit admission (15.2% to 11.1%; p < 0.05) decreased during the study period, although no significant trend was noted in the number of emergency room visits. A steep increase was seen in inpatient hospice use in the last month of life (8.6% to 26.6%; p < 0.05), while downward trends were observed for hospice admission within three days prior to death (13.9% to 11%; p < 0.05). Patients were more likely to receive aggressive EoL care if they were younger, women, had treatment in tertiary hospitals, or had hematologic malignancies. In the subgroup analysis, the overall trend of aggressive EoL care decreased for all five major cancer types. Conclusion: The aggressiveness of EoL care in stage IV cancer patients showed an overall decrease during 2012–2018 in Korea.

Lee S, et al. J Korean Med Sci. 2024 Nov;40:e27. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2025.40.e27