Hospice care can effectively alleviate pain, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression in elderly cancer chemotherapy survivors, improve their quality of life, reduce adverse reactions and readmission rate and enhance nursing satisfaction and is thus worthy of clinical promotion.
Post-intervention pain scores were significantly lower in the hospice care group compared to the routine nursing group.
Sleep quality was significantly better in the hospice care group than the routine nursing group after intervention.
Anxiety levels were significantly reduced in the hospice care group compared to the control group after intervention.
Depression scores were significantly lower in the hospice care group than the routine nursing group after intervention.
The hospice care group showed significant improvements in all eight dimensions of the SF-36 quality of life measure, with a larger improvement range than the control group.
The hospice care group had lower incidence of chemotherapy-related adverse reactions than the control group.
The hospice care group had a significantly lower 3-month readmission rate compared to the control group.
Nursing satisfaction was significantly higher in the hospice care group than in the routine nursing group.
The study used propensity score matching to control for baseline differences between the hospice care and routine nursing groups.
This research suggests that adding hospice care to standard nursing routines significantly benefits elderly cancer survivors who have completed chemotherapy. The study compared 98 patients who received hospice care alongside routine nursing to 98 patients who received only routine nursing. After the intervention, those who received hospice care reported much lower levels of pain, better sleep quality, and substantially reduced anxiety and depression scores compared to the control group. They also showed greater improvements across all eight areas of a standard quality-of-life survey. Beyond psychological and pain outcomes, the hospice care group also experienced fewer physical complications from chemotherapy, including lower rates of nausea, vomiting, and fatigue. Importantly, far fewer patients in the hospice care group needed to be readmitted to the hospital within 3 months (about 7% compared to nearly 20% in the control group). Patients receiving hospice care also reported higher satisfaction with their nursing care overall (about 96% versus 83%). This research suggests that integrating hospice care principles—which typically focus on comfort, emotional support, and holistic well-being—into post-chemotherapy care for elderly patients could lead to meaningful improvements across multiple aspects of health and well-being. The findings indicate potential benefits not only for patients' physical and mental health but also for healthcare systems through reduced hospital readmissions. The authors conclude this nursing model is worthy of broader clinical adoption, though the retrospective design of the study means further prospective research would strengthen these conclusions.
Cao W, Wang H. (2026). Hospice Care's Influence on Pain, Sleep, Anxiety, and Depression: A Focus on Elderly Survivors of Cancer Chemotherapy.. Actas espanolas de psiquiatria. https://doi.org/10.62641/aep.v54i1.2082