Abstract 2505
Background
Worldwide, according to WHO 2014, over 19 million patients are in need of palliative care, 34% of them will die of cancer. Palliative care research brings many challenges. This metaresearch study aims to evaluate how clinical research on palliative care is conducted within the setting of incurable cancer.
Methods
Clinicaltrials.gov was searched to identify all registered studies investigating palliative care in patients with advanced or metastatic cancer. The EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL questionnaire was used to define the domains of interest. We excluded studies investigating cancer-directed therapy, management of cancer treatment-related adverse events, and diagnostic tests. Publication status was crosschecked using PubMed.
Results
Of 3950 identified studies, 514 studies were included. The most frequent reason for exclusion was cancer-directed therapy (2491). In 2007-2012, 161 studies were registered vs 245 in 2013-2018. Included studies were interventional (84%, 430/514) or observational (16%, 84/514). Most studies were sponsored by academia (79%), and conducted in North America (57%) or Europe (25%). 67% of studies evaluated a heterogeneous population (any tumour type). 60% were monocentric studies. Interventional studies most frequently investigated systemic drugs (34%, 148/430), behavioural interventions (29%, 125/430), and procedures for pain (24%, 103/430). Pain, quality of life and physical function were the most studied palliative issues (188, 95, 52 studies respectively). Fewer studies investigated health care planning (45), emotional function (35), appetite (22), social function (22), fatigue (20), dyspnea (18), sleep disturbance (5), cognitive function (5), nausea (4), and constipation (3). The most applied primary outcome measures were efficacy/symptom control (61.5%, 316), quality of life (14.2%, 73) and feasibility (11.7%, 60). Only 16% of the closed studies had published results.
Conclusions
The studies investigating palliative care in patients with incurable tumours constitute a very small part of cancer clinical research. More than one third of studies examine pain, leaving other palliative issues less explored in clinical research. Furthermore, the results of these studies are under reported in the literature.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Resources from the same session
5939 - Matrix metalloproteinases and their tissue inhibitors genes abnormal DNA methylation in breast cancer
Presenter: Olga Simonova
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
2703 - Uveal melanoma cell lines depend on multiple signaling pathways for survival
Presenter: John Park
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
4849 - XAF1 and ZNF313 complex stimulates ER stress-induced apoptosis via direct GRP78 inhibition.
Presenter: Sungchan Jang
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
4801 - XAF1 assembles a destructive complex to induce BRCA1-mediated apoptosis via suppressing ERa and switching estrogen function
Presenter: Seung-hun Jang
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
3416 - Cancer associated fibroblasts promote cancer progression via Wnt2 secretion in colorectal cancer
Presenter: Hideaki Karasawa
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
4273 - Paired-related homeobox 1 overexpression promotes invasion and metastasis and is a prognostic factor for worse disease-free survival in patients with lung cancer
Presenter: Jung-jyh Hung
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
4241 - LncRNA-GC1 contributes to gastric cancer chemo-resistance through inhibition of miR-551b-3p and the overexpression of dysbindin
Presenter: Xin Guo
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
5388 - GLPG 1790, a new selective EPHA2 inhibitor, is active in colorectal cancer cell lines belonging to the CMS4/mesenchymal-like subtype
Presenter: Pietro Paolo Vitiello
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
5208 - Characterisation of growth hormone signal transduction in primary melanoma cell lines
Presenter: Karla Sousa
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
3156 - LAPTM5 protein can regulate TGF-β mediated MAPK and Smad signaling pathways in ovarian cancer cell
Presenter: Yan Gao
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract