Palliative care for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients: Pulmonary physicians' view

• Akiyama, Norimichi

• Fujisawa, Tomoyuki

• Morita, Tatsuya

• Mori, Kazutaka

• Yasui, Hideki

• Hozumi, Hironao

• Suzuki, Yuzo

• Karayama, Masato

• Furuhashi, Kazuki

• Enomoto, Noriyuki

• Nakamura, Yutaro

• Inui, Naoki

• Suda, Takafumi

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

• Palliative care for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients

Abstract

Key Message: Pulmonologists experienced greater difficulty in providing palliative care to patients with IPF than to those with lung cancer. Clinical studies on the optimal palliative care for patients with IPF are urgently required.

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ABSTRACT Background and objective: Though idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) has worse outcomes compared to most malignancies, patients with IPF receive poor access to optimal palliative care. This study aimed to characterise the practice of pulmonologist's regarding palliative care and end of life communication for patients with IPF and identify perceived difficulties and barriers thereto. Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were sent by mail to representative pulmonologists from Shizuoka prefecture, Japan. Physician-reported practice, difficulties, timing of end of life communication and barriers related to palliative care were investigated. Results: Among the 135 participants, 130 (96%) completed the questionnaire. Most of the participants reported that patients with IPF complained of dyspnoea and cough. However, less morphine was prescribed for IPF than for lung cancer. The participants experienced greater difficulty in providing palliative care for IPF than for lung cancer. Moreover, actual end of life discussions in patients with IPF were conducted later than the physician-perceived ideal timing. Among the barriers identified, few established treatment and difficulty in predicting prognosis [odds ratio (OR) 2.0; p=0.04], discrepancies in understanding and care goals among patients, family and medical staff (OR 2.2; p=0.03) and inadequate communication about goal of care (OR 2.3; p=0.003) were significantly associated with the physician-perceived difficulties in providing palliative care for patients with IPF. Conclusions: Pulmonologists experienced greater difficulty in providing palliative care to patients with IPF than to those with lung cancer. Clinical studies on the optimal palliative care for patients with IPF are urgently required.

Journal

• Journal of Pain and Symptom Management

  Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 60 (5), 933-940, 2020-11

  Elsevier

Keywords

• advance care planning
• end of life care
• idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• palliative care

Details

• CRID: 1050008832604519040
• NII Article ID: 120007173433
• ISSN: 08853924
• ISSN: 18736513
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.06.012
• HANDLE: 10271/00003921
• Web Site: https://hama-med.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/3797
• Web Site: https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0885392420305261?httpAccept=text/xml
• Web Site: https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0885392420305261?httpAccept=text/plain
• Text Lang: en
• Article Type: journal article
• Data Source:
  • IRDB
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN