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
4883 - A New Population Model Validated Pharmacokinetic Similarity of HLX01 and Rituximab in B-Cell Lymphoma
Presenter: Yuankai Shi
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
4908 - Efficacy of salvage therapy in the treatment of Helicobacter pylori-positive gastric low-grade mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma
Presenter: Sung-Nam Lim
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
2360 - Mutational analysis of extranodal marginal zone lymphoma using next generation sequencing
Presenter: Seok Jae Huh
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
2430 - Clinical features, treatment and outcomes of colon and rectum mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma: Literature reviews published in English between 1993 and 2017
Presenter: Jeong Yeon Kim
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
4654 - Splenic marginal zone lymphoma: clinical characteristics and prognostic factors in a series of 52 patients
Presenter: Guldane Cengiz Seval
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
1732 - Safety and efficacy of Bendamustine and Rituximab (BR) regimen in Indian Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia patients
Presenter: Ajay Gogia
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
5784 - N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) as an independed prognostic marker for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma complicated by dialysis-dependent renal failure
Presenter: Sergey Semochkin
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
836 - The first-line effect of Bortezomib-based Therapy on Clinical Outcomes for Taiwanese Patients with multiple myeloma
Presenter: Ching-Liang Ho
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
2085 - Impact of Donor Lymphocyte Infusion in Relapsing Myeloid Neoplasms Post Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Presenter: Hanafy Hafez
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract
6079 - Invasive fungal diseases in patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma before and after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Presenter: Marina Popova
Session: Poster Display session 1
Resources:
Abstract