Introduction

When people with life threatening illnesses and their carers ask about prognosis (“How long have I got?”), they are often doing more than simply inquiring about life expectancy. Within this question is another, often unspoken, question about likely patterns of decline (“What will happen?”). One aid to answering both questions may be through the use of typical illness trajectories. Thinking in terms of these trajectories provides a broad timeframe and patterns of probable needs and interactions with health and social services that can, conceptually at least, be mapped out towards death.

Such frameworks may help clinicians plan and deliver appropriate care that integrates active and palliative management. If patients and their carers gain a better understanding by considering illness trajectories this may help them feel in greater control of their situation and empower them to cope with its demands. An important implication for service planners is that different models of care will be appropriate for people with different illness trajectories. We review the main currently described illness trajectories at the end of life and draw out key clinical implications.

Methods

We searched our own database of papers, conducted a Medline search, and approached experts for additional published references (further details available from SAM). We also re-examined primary data relating to illness trajectories from our previous studies investigating the palliative care needs of people with advanced lung cancer and heart failure.1