Dr Areej El-Jawahri speaks with ecancertv at ASCO 2016 about integrated palliative care, for the benefit of patients and their families.

She found that, among 160 patients hospitalised for HCT, those randomised to the palliative care intervention (vs. control) reported less decline in QOL (-14.7 vs. -21.5, P = 0.04), and less increase in depression symptoms (HADS-Depression: 2.4 vs. 3.9, P = 0.02), and symptom burden (ESAS: 30.3 vs. 38.3, P = 0.007) from baseline to week-2.

Intervention participants also reported a decline in anxiety symptoms compared to control patients who reported an increase in anxiety from baseline to week-2 (HADS-Anxiety: -0.80 vs. 1.1, P = 0.0006)

Based on these findings, Dr El-Jawahri advocates incorporated palliative care become part of wider practice.