Pre-screening of patient-reported symptoms using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System in outpatient palliative cancer care.
Eur J Cancer Care (Engl)
; 29(6): e13305, 2020 Nov.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33016473
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
Although early palliative care is associated with a better quality of life and improved outcomes in end-of-life cancer care, the criteria of palliative care referral are still elusive.METHODS:
We collected patient-reported symptoms using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) at the baseline, first and second follow-up visits. A total of 71 patients were evaluable, with a median age of 65 years, male (62%) and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status distribution of 1/2/3 (28%/39%/33%) respectively.RESULTS:
Twenty (28%) patients had moderate/severe symptom burden with the mean ESAS ≥ 5. Interestingly, most of the patients with moderate/severe symptom burdens (ESAS ≥ 5) had globally elevated symptom expression. While the mean ESAS score was maintained in patients with mild symptom burden (ESAS < 5; 2.7 at the baseline; 3.4 at the first follow-up; 3.0 at the second follow-up; p = .117), there was significant symptom improvement in patients with moderate/severe symptom burden (ESAS ≥ 5; 6.5 at the baseline; 4.5 at the first follow-up; 3.6 at the second follow-up; p < .001).CONCLUSIONS:
In conclusion, advanced cancer patients with ESAS ≥ 5 may benefit from outpatient palliative cancer care. Pre-screening of patient-reported symptoms using ESAS can be useful for identifying unmet palliative care needs in advanced cancer patients.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Pacientes Ambulatorios
/
Neoplasias
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
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Screening_studies
Límite:
Humans
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Male
/
Newborn
Idioma:
En
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article