Symptoms and End-of-Life Experiences of Mexican Health and Aging Study Participants Who Died of Cancer

Introduction: The aim of this study was to describe the symptoms and end-of-life experiences of older Mexicans who had participated in the baseline Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) and died of cancer within 2 years. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study by reviewing the participants' demographics, diseases and symptoms, and access to health care during the last year of life, as provided by their widows/widowers or other family members and used statistical analyses to determine the frequency of symptoms and identify associations between the symptoms and access to health care. Results: A total of 91 participants were included in our analysis, and 59% died at home. Older age was associated with not being affiliated with a health care source (p = .04). Poor appetite was reported for significantly more patients who died at home than for those who died in a hospital (52% vs 48%; p = .04). Respondents reported severe pain in 55% of the participants. Younger participant age was significantly associated with reports of severe pain; the mean ages at death of participants with and without reports of severe pain were 69.5 and 75.1 years, respectively (p = .02). Conclusions: Palliative care programs in Mexico must provide home care services, offer coverage to patients lacking affiliation for health care and improve the access to pain management services.