How do palliative care needs vary across the disease trajectory in patients with gynecologic cancer?

Abstract

106 Background: The WHO’s integrated model emphasizes that palliative care (PC) should be provided concurrently with curative and life-prolonging care, with disease-directed treatments decreasing and PC increasing over time. This study aimed to understand how accurately this theoretical model matches the PC needs of gynecologic cancer (GC) patients. Methods: GC patients at a comprehensive cancer center completed a symptom and needs assessment questionnaire as part of routine care. Needs were divided into physical, emotional, social, practical, and informational domains. Patients reporting at least one symptom score ≥ 4/10 made the physical need domain positive. For the remainder of the categories, patients endorsing at least one need in a given domain made that domain positive. Time points in the illness trajectory were categorized as diagnosis, primary treatment, remission, and progression/recurrence. Univariate analyses were utilized to assess differences in needs at various time points. Results: Questionnaires from 1348 patient visits over 3 months were included. Patients had ovarian (39%), uterine (36%), cervical (16%), and vulvar (5%) cancer. Visits occurred around the time of diagnosis (6%), during primary therapy (28%), during remission (42%), and during disease progression or recurrence (23%). Physical needs were most common at diagnosis and during progression/recurrence (p < 0.01). Emotional needs (p < 0.01), social needs (p < 0.01), and informational needs (p < 0.01) all varied throughout the course of disease and were highest at diagnosis. At each time point, at least 65% of patients had one or more PC needs. Having needs in multiple domains ( ≥ 3) was associated with time point, with patients around the time of diagnosis having the highest rate of need in multiple domains (p < 0.01). Conclusions: GC patients have a broad range of PC needs across the trajectory of their illness. The WHO schema fails to capture the full scope of these needs and under-appreciates their prevalence earlier in the course of the disease. These results underscore the importance of training gynecologic oncologists in primary PC as well as increasing referrals to specialist PC providers.