Understanding the Mortality and Morbidity among Cancer Patients Admitted Through the Emergency Department of a Large Academic Urban Hospital

Despite advances in cancer screening, treatment options, and an overall decline in cancer mortality rates, the risk of death among cancer patients due to non-cancer related causes remains substantial. Many cancer survivors are inadvertently lost in the transition between care environments (i.e., inpatient and outpatient) and end up seeking both episodic and routine care in the emergency department (ED). In this study, we assess the burden of venous thromboembolism/pulmonary embolus- and sepsis-related morbidity and mortality in cancer patients admitted through the ED of a large academic urban hospital in 2019. The mortality rate for the cancer cohort was higher than the mortality rate of the non-cancer cohort. Similarly, the cancer cohort had a higher rate of sepsis and venous thromboembolism/pulmonary embolus, and higher mortality associated with these conditions than the non-cancer cohort. The Improving Cancer Survival and Reducing Treatment Variations with Protocols for Emergency Care (ICARE) study seeks to fill these gaps and improve health outcomes for cancer survivors by implementing protocol-based treatment and patient navigation.