Objective To investigate symptom-relief and comorbid drug uses at the end of life for older people with different dying trajectories (cancer, organ failure, frailty and sudden death) in Taiwan.

Methods In a retrospective observational study of older people aged 65 years and older who died in hospitals between 2008 and 2012, we used NHIRD to measure numbers, incremental changes and determinants of symptom-relief and comorbid drug use in the last month of outpatient care and last hospitalisation before death.

Results We included 59 407 older adults (cancer 37%, organ failure 26%, frailty 35% and sudden death 2%) who died in hospitals for this study. In the last hospitalisation before death, individuals who died of cancer received greatest number of symptom-relief drugs (mean: 4.65, [SD 2.77]) and increased most the average change in the number of symptom-relief drug use (+1.60; SD 3.36). However, individuals who died of organ failure received the highest number of comorbid drugs (mean 2.88, [SD 1.95]) and also increased most the average change in the number of comorbid drug use (+0.17; SD 2.28) at last hospitalisation. Different dying trajectories were key determinants of receiving symptom-relief and comorbid drugs in our study.

Conclusions Our study suggests that the drug use of older adults at the end of life in the cancer group is different from that in the organ failure and frailty groups. Policymakers and health professionals should consider the different strategies to optimise drug use for older people with different dying trajectories near their end of life.