Dataset Information

Palliative Care Interventions for Patients with Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To systematically characterize interventions and effectiveness of palliative care for advanced heart failure (HF) patients.

Background

Patients with advanced heart failure experience a high burden of distressing symptoms and diminished quality of life. Palliative care expertise with symptom management and healthcare decision-making benefits HF patients.

Methods

A systematic PubMed search was conducted from inception to June 2016 for studies of palliative care interventions for HF patients. Studies of humans with a HF diagnosis who underwent a palliative care intervention were included. Data were extracted on study design, participant characteristics, intervention components, and in three groups of outcomes: patient-centered outcomes, quality-of-death outcomes, and resource utilization. Study characteristics were examined to determine if meta-analysis was possible.

Results

The fifteen identified studies varied in design (prospective, n = 10; retrospective, n = 5). Studies enrolled older patients, but greater variability was found for race, sex, and marital status. A majority of studies measuring patient-centered outcomes demonstrated improvements including quality of life and satisfaction. Quality-of-death outcomes were mixed with a majority of studies reporting clarification of care preferences, but less improvement in death at home and hospice enrollment. A meta-analysis in three studies found that home-based palliative care consults in HF patients lower the risk of rehospitalization by 42% (RR = 0.58; 95% Confidence Interval 0.44, 0.77).

Discussion

Available evidence suggests that home and team-based palliative interventions for HF patients improve patient-centered outcomes, documentation of preferences, and utilization. Increased high quality studies will aid the determination of the most effective palliative care approaches for the HF population.

SUBMITTER: Diop MS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5177994 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to explore the impact of transitional care interventions on the prognosis of patients with heart failure.MethodsLiterature on transitional care interventions in patients with heart failure were retrieved from PubMed, Medline, Embase, and CENTRAL databases. The literature retrieval date was October 12, 2021. The inclusion criteria were based on PICOS principles. A researcher independently extracted information from the literature included in the meta-analysis, including author, title, publication date, patient baseline information, intervention measures, and observation indicators. Two other researchers checked the extracted data. Cochrane bias risk assessment was used to evaluate the quality of the included study. The chi-square test was used for heterogeneity test. Egger test was used for publication bias test. Data were statistically analyzed using Cochrane software RevMan 5.3. The Chi-square test was used to assess heterogeneity. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to describe the count data statistically.ResultsA total of 567 related articles were retrieved, and 18 studies were further screened for meta-analysis, 13 with low risk of overall bias, and 5 with high risk of overall bias. A total of 4,123 patients with heart failure were included, comprising 1,914 patients receiving transitional care interventions (46.42%) and 2,209 patients receiving routine care interventions (53.58%). The readmission rate of heart failure in patients receiving transitional care interventions was lower than that of patients receiving routine care interventions. There was heterogeneity among the literatures, and the source analysis of heterogeneity showed that the results were stable, and the random effect model was adopted without publication bias. The emergency visit rate of patients with heart failure receiving transitional care interventions was lower than that of patients receiving usual care interventions. There was no significant difference in mortality between patients receiving transitional care interventions and patients receiving usual care interventions.DiscussionTransitional care interventions can reduce the rate of patient readmission and emergency visits but have no significant impact on the mortality of patients. This study suggests the establishment of a transitional care intervention system for patients with heart failure.

Project description:BackgroundChronic heart failure is a common condition, and its prevalence is expected to rise significantly over the next two decades. Research demonstrates the increasing multidimensional needs of patients and caregivers. However, access to palliative care services for this population has remained poor. This systematic review was to provide an evidence synthesis of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of palliative care interventions for people with chronic heart failure and their caregivers.MethodsRelevant publications were identified via electronic searches of MEDLINE, Embase, PsychInfo, CINAHL, CENTRAL and HMIC from inception to June 2019. Grey literature databases, reference list, and citations of key review articles were also searched. Quality was assessed using the Revised Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool.ResultsOf the 2083 records, 18 studies were identified including 17 having randomised controlled trial (RCT) designs and one mixed methods study with an RCT component. There was significant heterogeneity in study settings, control groups, interventions delivered, and outcome measures used. The most commonly assessed outcome measures were functional status (n = 9), psychological symptoms (n = 9), disease-specific quality of life (n = 9), and physical symptom control (n = 8). The outcome measures with the greatest evidence for benefit included general and disease-specific quality of life, psychological symptom control, satisfaction with care, physical symptom control, medical utilisation, and caregiver burden. Moreover, the methodological quality of these studies was mixed, with only four having an overall low risk of bias and the remaining studies either demonstrating high risk of bias (n = 10) or showing some concerns (n = 4) due to small sample sizes and poor retention. Only two studies reported on economic costs. Both found statistically significant results showing the intervention group to be more cost effective than the control group, but the quality of both studies was at high risk of bias.ConclusionsThis review supports the role of palliative care interventions in patients with chronic heart failure and their caregivers across various outcomes, particularly quality of life and psychological wellbeing. Due to the highly heterogeneous nature of palliative care interventions, it is not possible to provide definitive recommendations as to what guise palliative care interventions should take to best support the complex care of this population. Considerable future research, particularly focusing on quality of care after death and the caregiver population, is warranted.

Project description:ObjectiveThis study aimed to estimate the pooled level of self-care behaviour among heart failure patients in Ethiopia.DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis.Data sourcePubMed/MEDLINE, HINARI, Web of Sciences, Scopus, Google Scholar, Science Direct, African journals online and University repositories were searched from 1 January 2000 to 1 November 2023.Eligibility criteriaWe include studies that examined self-care behaviour among heart failure patients, studies that report factors associated with self-care behaviour and observational studies (cross-sectional, case-control and cohort) with full text available.Data extraction and synthesisThe data were extracted with Microsoft Excel and analysed by using STATA V.11 software. The weighted inverse variance random-effects model at 95% CI was used to estimate the pooled level of self-care behaviour and its associated factors among heart failure patients. Tests of heterogeneity, test of publication bias and subgroup analyses were also employed.ResultsThirteen cross-sectional studies with 4321 study participants were included; and the pooled level of good self-care behaviour among heart failure patients in Ethiopia was found to be 38.3% (95% CI 31.46 to 45.13). Only 68.8% of heart failure patients were knowledgeable about heart failure. Knowledge about heart failure (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR)=3.39; 95% CI 2.42 to 4.74) and absence of comorbidity (AOR=2.69; 95% CI 1.35 to 5.37) were significantly associated with good self-care behaviour among heart failure patients in Ethiopia.ConclusionThe majority of heart failure patients in Ethiopia did not adhere to the recommended self-care behaviours. Nearly one-third of heart failure patients were not knowledgeable about heart failure. Knowledge about heart failure and the absence of comorbidities were significantly associated with good self-care behaviour. Therefore, efforts should be devoted to increasing knowledge and preventing comorbidities among heart failure patients.Prospero registration numberCRD42023394373.

Project description:BackgroundBeing a family carer to a patient nearing the end of their life is a challenging and confronting experience. Studies show that caregiving can have negative consequences on the health of family carers including fatigue, sleep problems, depression, anxiety and burnout. One of the goals of palliative care is to provide psychosocial support to patients and families facing terminal illness. A systematic review of interventions for family carers of cancer and palliative care patients conducted at the start of this millennium demonstrated that there was a dearth of rigorous inquiry on this topic and consequently limited knowledge regarding the types of interventions likely to be effective in meeting the complex needs of family carers. We wanted to discern whether or not the evidence base to support family carers has improved. Furthermore, undertaking this review was acknowledged as one of the priorities for the International Palliative Care Family Carer Research Collaboration http://www.centreforpallcare.org.MethodsA systematic review was undertaken in order to identify developments in family carer support that have occurred over the last decade. The focus of the review was on interventions that targeted improvements in the psychosocial support of family carers of palliative care patients. Studies were graded to assess their quality.ResultsA total of fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The focus of interventions included psycho-education, psychosocial support, carer coping, symptom management, sleep promotion and family meetings. Five studies were randomised controlled trials, three of which met the criteria for the highest quality evidence. There were two prospective studies, five pre-test/post-test projects and two qualitative studies.ConclusionsThe systematic review identified a slight increase in the quality and quantity of psychosocial interventions conducted for family carers in the last decade. More rigorous intervention research is required in order to meet the supportive care needs of family carers of palliative care patients.