How are palliative care cancer populations characterized in randomized controlled trials? A literature review.

Abstract

CONTEXT:

The difficulties in defining a palliative care patient accentuate the need to provide stringent descriptions of the patient population in palliative care research.

OBJECTIVES:

To conduct a systematic literature review with the aim of identifying which key variables have been used to describe adult palliative care cancer populations in randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

METHODS:

The data sources used were MEDLINE (1950 to January 25, 2010) and Embase (1980 to January 25, 2010), limited to RCTs in adult cancer patients with incurable disease. Forty-three variables were systematically extracted from the eligible articles.

RESULTS:

The review includes 336 articles reporting RCTs in palliative care cancer patients. Age (98%), gender (90%), cancer diagnosis (89%), performance status (45%), and survival (45%) were the most frequently reported variables. A large number of other variables were much less frequently reported.

CONCLUSION:

A substantial variation exists in how palliative care cancer populations are described in RCTs. Few variables are consistently registered and reported. There is a clear need to standardize the reporting. The results from this work will serve as the basis for an international Delphi process with the aim of reaching consensus on a minimum set of descriptors to characterize a palliative care cancer population.

• Authors: Katrin Ruth Sigurdardottir, Line Oldervoll, Marianne Jensen Hjermstad, Stein Kaasa, Anne Kari Knudsen, Erik Torbjørn Løhre, Jon Håvard Loge, Dagny Faksvåg Haugen
• Journal: Journal of pain and symptom management (J Pain Symptom Manage) Vol. 47 Issue 5 Pg. 906-914.e17 (May 2014) ISSN: 1873-6513 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 24018205 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Review, Systematic Review)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2014 U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Humans
• Neoplasms (therapy)
• Palliative Care
• Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic (methods)