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
5128 - IO-Synthesise NSCLC: A pooled analysis of real-world survival outcomes for non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with nivolumab in France and Germany
Presenter: Adrien Dixmier
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
2066 - Second-line (2L) real-world treatment (tx) patterns and outcomes in patients (pts) with advanced/metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with first line (1L) immuno-oncology (IO) monotherapy (mono tx)
Presenter: Denis Talbot
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
5919 - Real-world effectiveness of nivolumab monotherapy after prior systemic therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the United States
Presenter: David Stenehjem
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
3368 - Pembrolizumab as first-line treatment in NSCLC with PD-L1 ≥50%: Real life results from an all-comer population
Presenter: Nikolaj Frost
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
3775 - Patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer without molecular alterations or PD-L1 expression in Germany. Treatment and first outcome from the prospective German Registry Platform CRISP (AIO-TRK-0315)
Presenter: Frank Griesinger
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
3926 - Impact of second-line (2L) immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) on the treatment (Tx) of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in a UK centre: a REAL-Oncology analysis from the I-O Optimise initiative
Presenter: Michael Snee
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
5068 - First line pembrolizumab for NSCLC with PD-L1 TPS > 50% in a first French real life cohort
Presenter: Karim Amrane
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
1182 - Interstitial lung disease induced by immune-checkpoint inhibitors correlates with prognosis of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients
Presenter: Teppei Sugano
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
2297 - Phase II study to evaluate the peripheral blood mononuclear cell biomarker for nivolumab efficacy on previously treated non-small cell lung cancer subjects (NEJ029B: IMMUNITY-ONE)
Presenter: Yosuke Kawashima
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
2739 - Efficacy and safety of nintedanib + docetaxel in lung adenocarcinoma patients (pts) following treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs): Updated results of the ongoing non-interventional study (NIS) VARGADO (NCT02392455)
Presenter: Christian Grohe
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract