Palliative care is pivotal in symptom management of the dying patient. The care of dyspnoea often requires respiratory support. Our aim was to evaluate palliative care and respiratory support measures in the dying patient.

We performed a retrospective analysis of patients admitted to the Pneumology Ward of a tertiary centre and identified those who died in 2022. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected. A subgroup analysis of cancer and non-cancer patients was performed.

From a total of 671 patients, 81 (12.07%) patients died. Results are shown in figure 1. More than 60% of patients in each group were evaluated by Palliative Care Team during hospital admission. Half of the patients had a therapeutic celling clearly written on medical records. Most patients experienced dyspnoea, without differences between cancer and non-cancer patients. Delirium was more common in non-cancer patients, 53.1% (p=0.015). Pain was commonest in cancer patients, 24.5% (p=0.010). We found an increasing use of supplemental oxygen at death, compared to admission, in cancer patients.

Respiratory symptoms are common in dying patients. Symptom palliation is fundamental. Dyspnoea is as common in patients with lung cancer and in chronic respiratory diseases.