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Volume 38, Issue 1 , Pages 134-144 , July 2009

Using the Palliative Performance Scale to Provide Meaningful Survival Estimates

Francis Lau, PhD
- School of Health Information Science, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
- Address correspondence to: Francis Lau, PhD, School of Health Information Science, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3050 STN CSC, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 3P5, Canada.
Michael Downing, MD
- Victoria Hospice Society, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Mary Lesperance, PhD
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Nicholas Karlson, PhD
- Statistical Consulting Centre, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Craig Kuziemsky, PhD
- Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Ju Yang, BSc
- School of Health Information Science, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

,Accepted 16 June 2008.

Kaplan-Meier survival curves by initial PPS.

Kaplan-Meier survival curves by initial PPS.
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A survival nomogram based on age, gender, location, diagnosis, and PPS. To illustrate its use, consider the example of an 86-year-old male patient with initial PPS of 20%, admitted from home PRT with

A survival nomogram based on age, gender, location, diagnosis, and PPS. To illustrate its use, consider the example of an 86-year-old male patient with initial PPS of 20%, admitted from home PRT with noncancer cardiovascular disease. The covariate points are: AGE=“e” for 10 points, GENDER=“M” for 8 points, LOCATION=“home PRT” for 10 points, DX=“o” for 3 points, PPS=“20%” for 77 points, for total points of 108. Then, drawing a vertical line downward from the total points calculated yields a median survival of just over two days, first (75th) quartile of just over four days, and third (25th) quartile of one day.
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