Individuals With Cancer and an ICD Receive More Aggressive End-of-Life Care
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Jan. 10, 2025 -- Older cancer decedents with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) receive more aggressive end-of-life care, according to a study published online Nov. 14 in Cancer.
Megan A. Mullins, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues examined ICD prevalence and the association with aggressive end-of-life care among individuals with breast, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer. The analyses included 37,306 Medicare beneficiaries aged 66 years and older with stage 3 or 4 cancer who died between 2005 and 2016.
The researchers found that 6 percent of the cancer decedents had an ICD. More individuals with versus without an ICD died in the hospital (31 versus 25 percent). Overall, 46 percent of individuals with an ICD had device programming or interrogation visits that could have provided an opportunity for device discussion. Other than chemotherapy, ICD presence was associated with higher odds of every indicator of aggressive end-of-life care in adjusted models.
"Though individuals with cancer who had an ICD were more likely to receive all indicators of aggressive end‐of‐life care other than chemotherapy, nearly half of the individuals with an ICD had a device programming encounter in their last six months of life that could serve as an opportunity to discuss goals of care and device deactivation," the authors write.
Two authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted January 2025
Read this next
Marine Microplastic Levels Linked to Cardiometabolic Disease Prevalence
WEDNESDAY, June 18, 2025 -- In coastal counties, marine microplastic levels (MMLs) are associated with the prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases, according to a study published...
Researchers Quantify Magnitude of Cardiovascular Risk Associated With Cannabis
WEDNESDAY, June 18, 2025 -- Cannabis use is associated with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), according to a systematic review based on real-world data published online...
Incidence Rates of Appendiceal Adenocarcinoma Increasing
MONDAY, June 16, 2025 -- The incidence rates of appendiceal adenocarcinoma (AA) increased after 1945, according to a study published online June 10 in the Annals of Internal...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.