Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: The effects of oncology rehabilitation services on survival outcomes and healthcare resource utilization remain uncertain. We aimed to examine the effectiveness of rehabilitation services for patients with cancer in real-world settings.
METHODS: Using cancer registry and administrative data from 69 government-accredited cancer hospitals (including formerly accredited hospitals) in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, this real-world study analyzed patients aged 18 to 99 years who were newly diagnosed with cancer between April 2020 and December 2022. Inpatient rehabilitation initiated before or within seven days of the initial cancer treatment during the admission for that treatment (hereafter referred to as the index admission) was defined as the exposure of interest. We constructed Cox regression models to analyze all-cause mortality within one year of cancer diagnosis and Fine-Gray models to analyze unplanned readmissions (treating planned readmissions and death as competing risks) and out-of-hours outpatient visits (treating readmission and death as competing risks) within 28 days of discharge from the index admission. Models were adjusted for age, sex, cancer type, cancer stage, presence or absence of cancer-related symptoms, and activities of daily living at diagnosis.
RESULTS: Among 123,955 cancer patients, 20,561 (16.6%) received inpatient rehabilitation services during the index admission. Patients who received rehabilitation services were significantly less likely to die within one year of cancer diagnosis compared to those who did not receive such services (hazard ratio [HR] 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.79-0.87). Additionally, patients who received rehabilitation services were significantly less likely to experience unplanned readmissions and out-of-hours outpatient visits compared to those who did not receive such services (for unplanned readmissions: HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.73-0.85; for out-of-hours outpatient visits: HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.84-0.999).
CONCLUSIONS: Cancer patients who received rehabilitation services demonstrated favorable prognostic and discharge outcomes. These real-world data suggest the effectiveness of rehabilitation services for patients with cancer.