Home Health & Hospice Week

Early Palliative Care Improves Quality, Longevity

Receiving early palliative care improves quality of life and increases longevity, according to a new study in the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. In a study of lung cancer patients, participants who received early palliative care instead of just standard oncology treatment had "significant improvements in both quality of life and mood," says the study headed up by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers in Boston. And "patients receiving early palliative care had less aggressive care at the end of life but longer survival" -- about two months longer.

Patients receiving palliative care were in hospice programs longer, says the study, which is available for free at www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1000678.

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