DOI: 10.22391/fppc.1671314 ISSN: 2458-8865

Comparison of demographic and clinical characteristics between pediatric and adult palliative care patients: a retrospective cross-sectional study

Nilgün Harputluoğlu, Tevfik Tanju Yılmazer, Umut Gök, Tanju Çelik
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Introduction: Although its purpose and scope are the same; there are differences between adult and child palliative care in terms of practice, functioning, physical care and social support. In this study, it was aimed to examine the differences between adult and pediatric palliative care centers.Methods: The study is a cross-sectional retrospective study conducted between December 2018 and December 2020. Analyses were performed using the SPSS program, presented as frequency (%), mean, and standard deviation, and comparisons were made using the T-test and Pearson Chi-square test, with p=0.05 considered significant.Results: The study included 64 adults and 177 pediatric patients. Male gender was predominant in pediatric cases, while female gender was predominant in adults. Considering the diagnoses, neurological diseases were the most common (59.3%) in pediatric patients, and oncological diseases were the most common (100%) in adult patients. Infection was the most common reason for hospitalization in children (65%), while radiotherapy (28.1%) was the most common reason for hospitalization in adults. While the length of hospital stay was not different between pediatric and adult palliative care patients (p=0.229), the number of hospitalizations was found to be significantly lower in adult patients (p=0.043).Conclusions: Although the palliative care approach is similar in many ways, it differs for children and adults and requires different areas of expertise. Pediatric patients have been found to be hospitalized more frequently. This may be due to the sensitivity of parents making decisions on behalf of their children, or it may be due to the characteristics of the neurological patient group. Future studies could investigate the reasons for this.

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