NEJM Study Shows Palliative Care Extends Life

Most of you have already seen the study released yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine and I suspect that those of you who work in palliative medicine were not at all surprised by the results: patients who received palliative care along with standard oncology treatment for advanced lung cancer not only had a higher quality of life, but lived three months longer, as well. Isn’t that what we’ve been saying all along?

I have personal experience that supports their conclusions. When I was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in 2008, I relied on a program of palliative care to enable me to tolerate the toxic intraperitoneal chemotherapy that was recommended. I was determined to get ALL of my treatments, WHEN they were scheduled, in order to give myself the best chance of responding. I sought out aggressive symptom management, controlling the pain and nausea so that I could be ready for the next round of treatment. I saw an oncology counselor and set up a website to coordinate meals for my family and me. I prayed. My friends prayed. Friends of friends prayed. I used acupuncture, initially to help with the nausea but later, just because it made me feel better. Three Reiki masters came to my home weekly to keep my energy positive.

And I stayed on schedule! I had chemotherapy the day before Thanksgiving (only because they were closed on Thanksgiving and Thursday was my “usual” day). I finished my last treatment on Christmas Eve. I was determined to do this and palliative care made it possible. With an “n” of one, I’m not a randomized trial, but I did better than those around me. And, I’m still here two years later to marvel at my survival.

But now there IS a randomized trial!

151 patients with newly diagnosed, metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer were randomly assigned to receive either early palliative care integrated with standard oncology care or standard oncology care alone. The primary outcome was the change in quality of life at 12 weeks, assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung (FACT-L) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Data on end-of-life care were collected from electronic medical records.

Patients who received concurrent palliative care had a better quality of life than did patients who received standard care alone (P = 0.03). They also had fewer depressive symptoms (P = 0.01). At the end-of-life, the palliative care group had fewer aggressive treatments (aggressive care was defined as receiving any of the following: chemotherapy within 14 days of death, no hospice care, or admission to hospice less than 3 days before death) (P = 0.05). Despite this, the patients who received concurrent palliative care from the time of diagnosis lived longer – almost 3 months longer (ll.6 months vs. 8.9 months, P = 0.02).

This study confirms the importance of palliative care begun at the time a serious illness is diagnosed, enabling patients to live better AND to live longer. Great news for patients and for the field of palliative care.

2 thoughts on “NEJM Study Shows Palliative Care Extends Life

  1. Thanks for posting on this Gail, and for sharing your story. It is nice to match research with a personal story, and although all the details are obviously not the same as you point out the themes are there: curative and palliative care approaches can work together.

  2. Thanks Gail. I was happy to see support for earlier interventions and need for palliative care instead of the usual end of life thinking.

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