186 Published discussion of palliative care for patients with long term neurological conditions

Abstract

IntroductionThere is a growing recognition of the need for palliative care services for people with long-term neurological conditions (LTNC). However, in order to provide optimal treatment, there is a need for discussion and teaching within the relevant specialties, and research needs to provide evidence to inform provision of best medical practice.MethodsWe use number of abstracts from neurological, geriatric and palliative care conferences as a marker of the level of discourse at a clinical and academic levels. We searched ABN, BGS (British Geriatric Society), and APM (Association for Palliative Medicine) conference abstracts from 2014–2019 for neuro- logical and palliative search terms as appropriate.ResultsWe searched 3,750 abstracts over 21 conferences using the pre-specified search terms. Overall, only 2.19% out of these abstracts related to palliative issues in LTNC (ABN 21/1612 (1.3%), BGS 12/1017 (1.1%), APM 48/1121 (4.4%)) α2 p=3.2x10–8. ‘Dementia’ and ‘Parkinson’s’ were the most commonly identified LNTCs in BGS abstracts (each 4/12), with MND (14/48) and ‘dementia’ (10/48) dominating the APM abstracts.DiscussionThere is a dearth of published research and discussion at academic meetings related to the palliative needs of patients with LTNC. We believe these are necessary to inform best medical practice, and to establish policies and guidelines to serve this vulnerable group, or to inform the ongoing national debate.richard.n.rees@ucl.ac.uk