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
3020 - Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis depicts mechanisms of resistance and tumor response to BRAF inhibitors in BRAF-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
Presenter: Sandra Ortiz - Cuaran
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
1271 - A large scale prospective concordance study of oncogene driver detection between plasma- and tissue-based NGS analysis in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Presenter: Ryo Itotani
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
1132 - Biomarker status as a mediator of age-related overall survival (OS) in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC)
Presenter: Aaron Cohen
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
1502 - An exploratory analysis of on-treatment ctDNA measurement as a potential surrogate for overall survival for atezolizumab benefit in the OAK Study
Presenter: David Gandara
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
3912 - Disease monitoring of EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC patients via circulating tumor DNA
Presenter: Wei Fang Hsu
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
3856 - Incidence of T790M in NSCLC patients progressed to gefitinib, erlotinib, and afatinib: a study on circulating tumor DNA
Presenter: Romano Danesi
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
1330 - Folate receptor-positive circulating tumor cells as a predictive biomarker for the efficacy of first-line pemetrexed-based therapy in patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer
Presenter: Xiaoxia Chen
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
3512 - Carcinoembryonic Antigen of Cerebrospinal Fluid Predict Prognosis of Leptomeningeal Metastasis from Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Presenter: Junjie Zhen
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
3852 - Liquid biopsy in clinical pratice of Non-Small-Cell-Lung Cancer (NSCLC): a multi-institutional experience
Presenter: Giovanna De Maglio
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
1205 - A Phase III Study Comparing SB8, a Proposed Bevacizumab Biosimilar, and Reference Bevacizumab in Patients with Metastatic or Recurrent Non-squamous NSCLC
Presenter: Martin Reck
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract