Impact of Early Palliative Care on Quality of Life of Patients with Advanced Stage of Carcinoma Cervix: A Prospective Observational Study

ABSTRACT

Background: Palliative care aims to relieve suffering in all stages of disease. We studied the effect of introducing palliative care early at diagnosis on patient reported outcome among patients of carcinoma cervix. Methodology: We assigned patients with advanced stage of carcinoma cervix to receive either early palliative care integration or standard oncologic care alone. Quality of life and overall health were assessed at baseline, 12 weeks and at 20 weeks with use of European Organisation for Research & Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ) C-30 scale and EORTC QLQ Cx-24 scale. We studied the secondary outcomes related to emergency hospital visits, compliance to treatment and End of life interventions. Results: The difference in score of EORTC C-30 and EORTC QLQ Cx-24 scales amongst groups was statistically significant at 12 weeks (P<0.05). Group P patients had 100% compliance for treatment, as compared to patients from Group C, as 6 patients left treatment before conclusion. The difference in scores of Group P and Group C, for all EORTC C-30 and EORTC QLQ Cx-24 questions at 20 weeks were not statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusion: Among patients with advanced stage of carcinoma cervix, early palliative care led to significant improvement in quality of life, overall health, emergency hospital visits, and admission at end of life.