Impact of Early Referral to Palliative Care in Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease

Abstract

Background:

Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) have a major impact on survival and quality of life but only a small percentage of patients are referred for palliative care (PC).

Objective:

To assess the impact of early PC referral on hospital admissions, emergency department visits, and place of death in the last year of life.

Design:

This is a single-center retrospective observational study.

Setting/Subjects:

Subjects were patients with ILDs who attended the respiratory department of Hospital Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Barcelona, Spain) between 2011 and 2019.

Results:

Of the 51 included patients, 45% received early PC referral. Logistic regression indicated that early PC referral was independently associated with a lower risk of hospital admissions in the last year of life (OR = 0.16; 95% CI 0.03–0.75; p = 0.02) and a lower risk of dying in hospital (OR = 0.11; 95% CI 0.02–0.5; p = 0.009).

Conclusion:

Early PC referral reduces the need for hospitalization and enables domiciliary death.