Hospice care for end stage liver disease in the United States

Introduction: Patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) have impaired physical, psychological, and social functions, which can diminish patient quality of life, burden family caregivers, and increase health-care utilization. For those with a life expectancy of less than six months, these impairments and their downstream effects can be addressed effectively through high-quality hospice care, delivered by multidisciplinary teams and focused on the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing of patients and caregivers, with a goal of improving quality of life.

Areas covered: In this review, we examine the evidence supporting hospice for ESLD, we compare this evidence to that supporting hospice more broadly, and we identify potential criteria that may be useful in determining hospice appropriateness.

Expert opinion: Despite the potential for hospice to improve care for those at the end of life, it is underutilized for patients with ESLD. Increasing the appropriate utilization of hospice for ESLD requires a better understanding of patient eligibility, which can be based on predictors of high short-term mortality and liver transplant ineligibility. Such hospice criteria should be data-driven and should accommodate the uncertainty faced by patients and physicians.