12.4 Palliative care for patients with end-stage heart disease

The distribution of individual heart disease differs among women and men and, parallel to this, among particular age groups. Women are usually affected by cardiovascular disease at an older age than men, and as the prevalence of comorbidities (like diabetes or chronic pain syndromes) grows with age, women suffer from a higher number of symptoms (such as pain and breathlessness) than men. Women live longer, and after a husband or partner's death, they suffer from a stronger sense of loneliness, are more dependent on institutionalized care and have more unaddressed needs than men. Heart failure (HF) is a common end-stage pathway of many cardiovascular diseases and causes substantial symptom burden and suffering despite optimal cardiologic treatment. Modern, personalized medicine makes every effort, including close cooperation between disciplines, to alleviate them as efficiently as possible. Palliative Care (PC) interventions include symptom management, psychosocial and spiritual support. In complex situations they are provided by a specialized multiprofessional team, but usually the application of PC principles by the healthcare team responsible for the person is sufficient. PC should be involved in usual care to improve the quality of life of patients and their relatives as soon as appropriate needs emerge. Even at less advanced stages of disease, PC is an additional layer of support added to disease modifying management, not only at the end-of-life. The relatively scarce data suggest sex-specific differences in symptom pathophysiology, distribution and the requisite management needed for their successful alleviation. This paper summarizes the sex-related differences in PC needs and in the wide range of interventions (from medical treatment to spiritual support) that can be considered to optimally address them.

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Partial Left Ventriculectomy in Patients With end Stage Heart Disease - Initial Experience

Journal of the American College of Cardiology ◽

10.1016/s0735-1097(97)88044-8 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 470A

Author(s):

R Vijayanagar

Keyword(s):

Heart Disease ◽

Initial Experience ◽

End Stage ◽

Partial Left Ventriculectomy

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Effects of a transitional palliative care model on patients with end-stage heart failure: a randomised controlled trial.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.726213930.793517382 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Janet Abrahm

Keyword(s):

Heart Failure ◽

Palliative Care ◽

Randomised Controlled Trial ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Care Model ◽

End Stage Heart Failure ◽

Randomised Controlled ◽

End Stage

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Emergency Medicine Palliative Care Access (EMPallA): protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of specialty outpatient versus nurse-led telephonic palliative care of older adults with advanced illness

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025692 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. e025692 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Corita R Grudzen ◽

Deborah J Shim ◽

Abigail M Schmucker ◽

Jeanne Cho ◽

Keith S Goldfeld

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Older Adults ◽

Palliative Care ◽

Randomised Controlled Trial ◽

Case Management ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Chronic Obstructive ◽

Randomised Controlled ◽

End Stage

IntroductionEmergency department (ED)-initiated palliative care has been shown to improve patient-centred outcomes in older adults with serious, life-limiting illnesses. However, the optimal modality for providing such interventions is unknown. This study aims to compare nurse-led telephonic case management to specialty outpatient palliative care for older adults with serious, life-limiting illness on: (1) quality of life in patients; (2) healthcare utilisation; (3) loneliness and symptom burden and (4) caregiver strain, caregiver quality of life and bereavement.Methods and analysisThis is a protocol for a pragmatic, multicentre, parallel, two-arm randomised controlled trial in ED patients comparing two established models of palliative care: nurse-led telephonic case management and specialty, outpatient palliative care. We will enrol 1350 patients aged 50+ years and 675 of their caregivers across nine EDs. Eligible patients: (1) have advanced cancer (metastatic solid tumour) or end-stage organ failure (New York Heart Association class III or IV heart failure, end-stage renal disease with glomerular filtration rate <15 mL/min/m2, or global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease stage III, IV or oxygen-dependent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease); (2) speak English; (3) are scheduled for ED discharge or observation status; (4) reside locally; (5) have a working telephone and (6) are insured. Patients will be excluded if they: (1) have dementia; (2) have received hospice care or two or more palliative care visits in the last 6 months or (3) reside in a long-term care facility. We will use patient-level block randomisation, stratified by ED site and disease. Effectiveness will be compared by measuring the impact of each intervention on the specified outcomes. The primary outcome will measure change in patient quality of life.Ethics and disseminationInstitutional Review Board approval was obtained at all study sites. Trial results will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.Trial registration numberNCT03325985; Pre-results.

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Hospital-based acute care in the last 30 days of life among patients with chronic disease that received early, late or no specialist palliative care: a retrospective cohort study of eight chronic disease groups

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044196 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. e044196

Author(s):

Madalene Earp ◽

Pin Cai ◽

Andrew Fong ◽

Kelly Blacklaws ◽

Truong-Minh Pham ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Cohort Study ◽

Heart Disease ◽

Chronic Disease ◽

Acute Care ◽

Retrospective Cohort Study ◽

Retrospective Cohort ◽

Hospital Admissions ◽

Specialist Palliative Care ◽

Icu Admission

ObjectiveFor eight chronic diseases, evaluate the association of specialist palliative care (PC) exposure and timing with hospital-based acute care in the last 30 days of life.DesignRetrospective cohort study using administrative data.SettingAlberta, Canada between 2007 and 2016.Participants47 169 adults deceased from: (1) cancer, (2) heart disease, (3) dementia, (4) stroke, (5) chronic lower respiratory disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)), (6) liver disease, (7) neurodegenerative disease and (8) renovascular disease.Main outcome measuresThe proportion of decedents who experienced high hospital-based acute care in the last 30 days of life, indicated by ≥two emergency department (ED) visit, ≥two hospital admissions,≥14 days of hospitalisation, any intensive care unit (ICU) admission, or death in hospital. Relative risk (RR) and risk difference (RD) of hospital-based acute care given early specialist PC exposure (≥90 days before death), adjusted for patient characteristics.ResultsIn an analysis of all decedents, early specialist PC exposure was associated with a 32% reduction in risk of any hospital-based acute care as compared with those with no PC exposure (RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.71; RD 0.16, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.17). The association was strongest in cancer-specific analyses (RR 0.53, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.55; RD 0.31, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.33) and renal disease-specific analyses (RR 0.60, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.84; RD 0.22, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.34), but a~25% risk reduction was observed for each of heart disease, COPD, neurodegenerative diseases and stroke. Early specialist PC exposure was associated with reducing risk of four out of five individual indicators of high hospital-based acute care in the last 30 days of life, including ≥two ED visit,≥two hospital admission, any ICU admission and death in hospital.ConclusionsEarly specialist PC exposure reduced the risk of hospital-based acute care in the last 30 days of life for all chronic disease groups except dementia.

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