Inpatient rehabilitation therapy among colorectal cancer patients - utilization and association with prognosis: a cohort study

Post-acute Care Needs and Benefits of Inpatient Rehabilitation Care for the Oncology Patient

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This study aims to assess recent literature published on the post-acute care needs of cancer patients, specifically focusing on the acute inpatient rehabilitation setting.

RECENT FINDINGS

The neurologic cancer population appears to be the most studied oncologic population in acute inpatient rehabilitation studies within the past 5 years. This finding is consistent with prior findings from the past several decades. Recent trends in inpatient cancer rehabilitation note a population with lower admission functional status and shorter lengths of stay compared to prior studies. Despite these findings, the percentage discharged to the community remains high. With new treatments yielding improved survival, cancer patients may live longer and risk accumulating more functional impairments. Physicians involved in their care must understand post-acute care needs and work in a multidisciplinary group to best determine post-acute disposition. This decision remains very individualized and should consider both oncologic and functional needs.

Factors affecting the post-operative outcomes in patients aged over 80 following colorectal cancer surgery

PURPOSE

In 2019, in Australia, there were 500,000 people aged 85 and over. Traditionally, clinicians have adopted the view that surgery is not desirable in this cohort due to increasing perioperative risk, perceived minimal clinical benefit, and shortened life expectancy. This cohort study is aimed at investigating postoperative outcomes from elective and non-elective colorectal cancer surgery in patients aged 80 and over.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients from 2010 to 2020 on a prospectively maintained colorectal database. Patients aged over 80 who underwent surgical resection for colorectal cancer were reviewed. Oncological characteristics, short-term outcomes, overall survival, and relapse-free survival rates were analysed.

RESULTS

A total of 832 patients were identified from the database. Females comprised 55% of patients aged 80 and above. The median age was 84 for octogenarians and 92 for nonagenarians. Most patients were ASA 2 (212) or ASA 3 (501). ASA 3 and 4 and stage III pathology were associated with higher postoperative complications. Fifty percent of over 80 s and 37% of over 90 s were surgically discharged to their own home. Overall survival at 30, 180, and 360 days and 5 years was 98.1%, 93.1%, 87.2%, and 57.2% for the over 80 s and 98.1%, 88.9%, 74.9%, and 24.4% for the over 90 s.

CONCLUSION

Our results demonstrate that surgical treatment of older patients is safe with acceptable short-, medium-, and long-term survival. Nonetheless, efforts are needed to reduce the rates of complications in older patients, including utilisation of multi-disciplinary teams to assess the optimal treatment strategy and postoperative care.

Favorable effect of enhanced recovery programs on post-discharge mortality: a French nationwide study

Background

Enhanced recovery programs (ERPs) imply early discharge but few papers have assessed the effect of ERPs on post-discharge mortality (PDM).

Methods

A multicenter nationwide case control study based on administrative data was carried out between March and December 2019. Coding for every episode of care whether in the setting of ERP or not is mandatory for hospital funding (public or private). Twelve surgical specialties or procedures were included. The episodes of care coded with ERP were matched with those without ERP code for several factors such as the type of hospital (public or private), age, gender, month of discharge, and updated Charlson score. Ninety-day PDM was the main outcome.

Results

Of 420,031 patients in the database, 78,119 had an ERP code. Finally, 132,600 patients with 66,300 matched pairs were considered for the study. Overall, PDM was significantly reduced after ERPs: 0.075% vs 0.138% (p = 0.00042). Significant one-half and two-thirds reduction in PDM was observed respectively after hip arthroplasty (odds ratio 0.48 [95% CI 0.21–0.99]) and colectomy (odds ratio 0.36 [95% CI 0.16–0.74]).

Conclusion

The findings, based on a large database and a rigorous matching, strongly suggest that ERPs reduce PDM particularly after colectomy and hip arthroplasty. This is likely due to better post-operative care in ERPs.

Quality of life, distress, and posttraumatic growth 5 years after colorectal cancer diagnosis according to history of inpatient rehabilitation

Purpose

In Germany, almost every other colorectal cancer (CRC) patient undergoes inpatient cancer rehabilitation (ICR), but research on long-term outcomes is sparse. We aimed to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL), distress, and posttraumatic growth among former rehabilitants and non-rehabilitants as well as respective differences and to estimate disease-related quality of life deficits in both groups.

Methods

HRQOL (EORTC-QLQ-C30/CR29), distress (QSC-R10), and posttraumatic growth (PTGI) were assessed according to past ICR in patients 5-year post-CRC-diagnosis in the German DACHS study. Least square mean differences in HRQOL scores and elevated distress levels (QSC-R10 > 14 points) by ICR were estimated by confounder-adjusted linear and logistic regression, respectively. Differences in PTGI scales were tested for statistical significance. EORTC-QLQ-C30 reference scores from population controls were accessed from the LinDE study to estimate disease-related deficits in both treatment groups.

Results

49% of the included 1906 CRC survivors had undergone ICR. Rehabilitants reported lower HRQOL scores than non-rehabilitants in several dimensions of the EORTC-QLQ-C30/CR29. Differences were pronounced among younger survivors (< 70 years). In younger survivors, past ICR also predicted elevated distress. However, rehabilitants showed higher posttraumatic growth. When compared to 934 population controls, non-rehabilitants and older rehabilitants reported HRQOL scores (EORTC-QLQ-C30) similar to controls except higher levels of bowel dysfunctions, whereas younger rehabilitants experienced deficits regarding most scales (13/15).

Conclusion

Our findings suggest a high disease burden 5 years after diagnosis in particular among younger CRC survivors who had undergone ICR. Observed HRQOL deficits are possibly linked to the initial indication for ICR and rehabilitants may benefit from effective follow-up concepts after ICR.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00432-021-03865-3.