Cancer Trajectories at the End of Life: is there an effect of age and gender?
Source: BMC Cancer

1,249 (98%) caregivers answered the question about patient’s function. The probability to be free from a functional disability was high (94%) 52 weeks before death, but was lower for older age groups (15% for those aged 85 or more) and women (8%). It remained stable until 18 weeks before death, then fell to 63% at 12 weeks and 49% at 6 weeks before death (among those aged 85 or more the figures were 50% and 41%). The pattern was consistent across sub-groups, except for patients affected by Central Nervous System tumors who experienced a longer, slower functional decline.

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