State of Research on Palliative Care in Heart Failure as Evidenced by Published Literature, Conference Proceedings, and NIH Funding

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• 作者：Kira Xie ; BA¹ ; Laura Gelfman ; MD² ; ³ ; Jay R. Horton ; PhD ACHPN FNP-BC² ; Nathan E. Goldstein ; MD² ; ³ ; ^{Nathan.Goldstein@mssm.edu}
• 关键词：Heart failure ; aging ; morbidity ; palliative care
• 刊名：Journal of Cardiac Failure
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：23
• 期：2
• 页码：197-200
• 全文大小：75 K
• 卷排序：23

文摘

Heart failure (HF) is the most common diagnosis in hospitalized patients older than 65 years of age. Although these patients often need specialist-directed palliative care, <10% ever receive these services. This may be due to a lack of evidence examining the benefits of palliative care for these patients. To understand the current state of research on the interface of palliative care and HF, we examined trends in publications, presentations at national meetings, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.MethodsUsing key terms, we identified items about palliative care and HF in the following sources: (1) the tables of contents of nine leading cardiology journals, (2) abstracts of conference proceedings from four cardiology societies, and (3) all NIH grants from 2009 to 2013.ResultsOf the journals reviewed, fewer than 1% of their publications related to palliative care. Less than 2% of HF-related sessions in conference proceedings mentioned palliative care. Of the NIH's $45 billion directed to HF research, only $14 million (0.03%) was spent on palliative care research.ConclusionsDespite calls for improving palliative care for patients with advanced HF, a lack of sufficient attention persists in research abstracts, concurrent sessions at national meetings, and NIH funding to increase the evidence base. Without these improvements, the ability to deliver high-quality specialist palliative care to patients with HF and their families will remain severely limited.