Specialist palliative care access and end-of-life hospitalizations in acute leukemia: a nationwide register study

To investigate access to specialist palliative care (SPC) and healthcare service utilization at the end of life among patients with acute leukemia. This retrospective register study included all adult patients who died of acute leukemia in Finland in 2019. Data was collected from national databases. Patients were categorized based on whether they had contact with SPC or not. In total, 206 patients were included, of whom 25% had SPC contact median of 57 days before death. SPC contact was associated with fewer secondary care hospitalizations (42% vs. 73%, p < 0.001) and readmissions (12% vs.27%, p = 0.022) in the last 30 days of life and fewer hospital deaths (44% vs. 94%, p < 0.001). Patients with acute leukemia had low use of SPC services and high utilization of healthcare services at the end of life. Contact with SPC was associated with reduced secondary care hospitalizations, readmissions, and hospital deaths.