Background: Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) score has widely been used to estimate survival
time in palliative cancer patients. However, only few studies explored the association between
survival time and the PPS score in the Asian population.
Objective: This study explores the association between PPS score and survival time in palliative
cancer patients.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 639 cancer patients who were referred to
the palliative care unit at Lampang hospital between 2018-2020. PPS scores were recorded by
the palliative care team at the first time of visit.
Results: Of 639 patients, the mean age of patients was 66 years. PPS scores ranged from 10% to
80%, with a median of 40%. Median survival time was 15 days. The Cox proportional hazard
regression showed that a 10% increment of PPS score was associated with 0.957 hazard of
death (95% CI: 0.951-0.964).
Conclusion: This is the biggest Asian population-based study that provided the association
between survival time and PPS score. Survival time estimates from this study could be useful
for health professionals to inform palliative cancer patients and their families about the
approximate remaining time from initial PPS score.