Abstract
216 Background: National oncology and palliative care organizations recommend greater incorporation of palliative care in clinical care and research in advanced cancer to improve care quality. In radiation oncology, palliative oncology care represents approximately 30-40% of treatment courses. Given the frequency of palliative care in radiation oncology and recommendations for greater research at this intersection, we sought to determine the prevalence and patterns of publication of symptom control and palliative care focused original research articles in two prominent radiation oncology journals from 2004-2015. Methods: From 2005 to 2014, abstracts of original research manuscripts published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology (Red Journal) and the Radiotherapy and Oncology (Green Journal) journals were reviewed to determine the number and content of abstracts relating to symptom control and palliative care (SCPC). Research articles were included if their abstract described a patient population with advanced or metastatic cancer and were considered focused on SCPC if symptom palliation was the goal of treatment or patterns of palliative care needs was the goal of the research inquiry. Change in annual proportion of SCPC abstracts over time was assessed with the χ-square trend test. Results: From 2005 -2014, 10.6% (593/5611: range 4.2-17%) of all original research articles published in the Red Journal and 14.5% (365/2516: range 12.2-17.4%) published in the Green Journal involved palliative care. In the Red Journal, 1.3% (75/5611) of original research articles were specifically focused on SCPC and 5.3% (133/2516) in the Green Journal. In both journals the number of abstracts did not change over time (p = 0.24). Randomized controlled trials accounted for a minority (10.6%, 22/208) of SCPC abstracts in both journals. Conclusions: SCPC-focused original research is poorly represented in two major radiation oncology academic journals. Palliative radiotherapy is a critical part of radiotherapy clinical practice and should be the subject of further research; particularly needed is research employing rigorous study designs.
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