Extensive evidence shows that well over 50% of people prefer to be cared for and to die at home.1,2,3 However, in many countries of the world this is where a minority of people die. In England and Wales, for example, only a fifth (21%) of deaths occurred at home in 2010 4,5. A new systematic review led by researchers Barbara Gomes, Natalia Calanzani and Irene Higginson from the Cicely Saunders Institute at King’s College London, in collaboration with colleagues at the King’s Centre for the Economics of Mental and Physical Health and at the geriatrics unit of the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco, published this week in the Cochrane Library, quantifies the effect that home palliative care services have on patients’ odds of dying at home, analyses effects on patients and caregivers’ health outcomes, and reviews the existing evidence on the cost-effectiveness of these services. The work was funded by the charities Cicely Saunders International and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation…read more