Impact of palliative care on quality of life in advanced cancer: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
A partir d'une revue de la littérature (25 essais randomisés incluant un total de 5 160 patients), cette méta-analyse évalue l'effet des soins palliatifs sur la qualité de vie des patients adultes atteints d'un cancer de stade avancé
Introduction : This study aimed to examine the impact of palliative care on the life quality of adults with advanced cancer. Methods : After a comprehensive and regular search using [MeSH] keywords in some important databases, 25 published randomised controlled trials (RCTs) involving 5160 adults with advanced cancer were selected and examined through meta-analysis. Results : Analysis of 36 reports in 1–3 months follow-up, and 19 reports in 4–7 months follow-up, showed that compared to usual care (g = 0.25; 95%CI: 0.1 to 0.41), palliative care had a significant impact on quality of life (QOL) (g = 0.1; 95%CI: 0.019 to 0.18) of advanced cancer patients. Also, based on the analysis of 15 reports on outpatients (g = 0.27; 95%CI: 0.04 to 0.4), 10 reports of early (g = 0.27; 95%CI: 0.029 to 0.52), and 8 reports of end-of-life (g = 0.24; 95%CI: 0.06 to 0.47) palliative care in 4–7 months follow-up, a significant impact on life quality was shown. However, in four reports, the impact of palliative care on health related quality of life in ≥10 months follow-up (g = 0.19; 95%CI: −0.03 to 0.42) was not significant. Conclusion : Systematic QOL assessment with valid tool in palliative care setting would establish quality assurance and could further develop the application of this pretty new discipline in oncology care worldwide.