Literature Review

New report details financial, emotional toll of Parkinson’s on family caregivers McKnights Home Care; by Foster Stubbs; 2/4/25 A new report sheds a light on the unique challenges faced by family caregivers who care for loved ones with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The report, Parkinson’s Disease Caregiving in the US, features insights from secondary analysis and supplementary interviews with 10 PD caregivers. These caregivers average 31 hours of unpaid care per week; half of interviewed caregivers exceed 100 hours each week, according to the report. The National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), with support from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) and Arcadia University, released the report.  

No one should die alone. A Cape Fear Valley initiative aims to make that true for patients The Fayetteville Observer, Fayetteville, NC; by Lizmary Evans; 2/5/25 No one should take their last breath alone, and the mission of a new volunteer group at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center will make sure that doesn't happen. The No One Dies Alone program, an internationally recognized initiative that began in 2001 at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, Oregon, provides trained companions to sit with dying patients who do not have loved ones available during their final moments, according to a news release. ... "Sitting at the bedside of another human being, keeping awake and alert — it’s a vigil," [Mary Draughn, the hospice patient care manager at Valley Hospice House in Fayetteville] said last week. "This vigil provides comfort, meaning, resolution and peace to both the dying person and the companion."

Palliative care slashes ED visits, hospitalizations in people living at home with dementia: study McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Kristen Fischer; 1/30/25 A program that provides palliative care to people with dementia and their caregivers lowered the number of emergency department visits and hospitalizations by approximately half in about a year, a new study shows. Those who benefitted the most from the Indiana Palliative Excellence in Alzheimer Care Efforts (IN-PEACE) initiative were Black people and those with lower incomes. A report detailing the findings was published in JAMA ... The 50% decrease in emergency department visits and hospitalizations among people who received the intervention shows that the program can keep some people with dementia out of the hospital, where they can develop complications and functional declines.

Defining spine cancer pain syndromes: A systematic review and proposed terminologyGlobal Spine Journal; Markian Pahuta, MD, PhD, FRCSC; Ilya Laufer, MD; Sheng-fu Larry Lo, MD; Stefano Boriani, MD; Charles Fisher, MD, MHSC, FRCSC; Nicolas Dea, MD, MSc, FRCSC; Michael H. Weber, MD, MSc, PhD, FRCSC; Dean Chou, MD; Arjun Sahgal, MD, FRCPC; Laurence Rhines, MD; Jeremy Reynolds, MB.ChB, BSc (Hons), FRCS; Aron Lazary, MD, PhD; Alessandro Gasbarrinni, MD; Jorrit-Jan Verlaan, MD, PhD; Ziya Gokaslan, MD, FACS; Chetan Bettegowda, MD, PhD; Mohamed Sarraj, MD; Ori Barzilai, MD; AO Spine Knowledge Forum Tumor; 1/25The spine is the most common site of osseous metastasis, and over one-third of patients with carcinoma or hematological malignancy will develop spinal metastases. Vertebral metastases have a negative impact on patient function and heath related quality of life (HRQoL). We consolidate the terminology used in the literature and consolidated into clinically relevant nomenclature of biologic tumor pain, mechanical pain, radicular pain, neuropathic pain, and treatment related pain. This review helps standardize terminology for cancer-related pain which may help clinicians identify pain generators.

The Handbook of LGBTQIA-inclusive Hospice and Palliative Care, 2nd edition Review in Ageing & Society, published online by Cambridge University Press; book authored by Kimberly D. Acquavia, review authored by Luis Stoisser; 1/23/25 The Handbook of LGBTQIA-inclusive Hospice and Palliative Care is a comprehensive guide to providing inclusive palliative and hospice care to everyone, regardless of their self-identification. Following the author's belief that LGBTQIA+ hospice and palliative care requires change at three levels - individual, institutional and systemic - the book extends state-of-the-art palliative and hospice practices (US focused) by including LGBTQIA+ perspectives. Such a rethinking educates hospice and palliative care practitioners on how to provide person-centered care, how to be self-reflexive on a daily basis and how to handle their own stereotypes and stigmas. [This book is available via Columbia University Press and Amazon.]

Major tuberculosis outbreak hits Kansas City area U.S. News & World Report; by Hannah Lang; 1/29/25 An outbreak of tuberculosis in the Kansas City area has grown into one of the largest ever recorded in the United States, with dozens of active cases of the infectious disease reported, according to health officials. As of Jan. 24, 67 active cases of tuberculosis, or TB, had been reported in Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas. The outbreak began last year, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said on its website. It did not specify a source of the outbreak. ... Tuberculosis replaced COVID-19 as the top cause for infectious disease-related deaths in 2023, according to a World Health Organization report published in October, highlighting challenges in the global effort in eradicating the disease.

Palliative care may improve quality of life in esophageal cancer Cure; by Tim Cortese; 1/27/25 Palliative care consultations helped patients with esophageal cancer at end-of-life experience better quality of life and less financial strain by reducing the need for intensive interventions, according to a poster presented at the 2025 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. The mean length of hospital stay was 7.5 days (plus or minus 11.3 days) for patients who received palliative care and 8.9 days (plus or minus 14.9) for those who didn’t; and total charges were $97,879 (plus or minus $195,868) and $146,128 (plus or minus $321,830), respectively. Patients who received palliative care consultation had a Charlson Comorbidity Index of 9.4 (plus or minus 3.3) versus 9.1 (plus or minus 3.5) for patients who did not.

You’re not imagining it. The ‘quad-demic’ is making everyone sick. New Jersey Advance Media; by Jackie Roman; 1/27/25 A quadruple threat of viruses is driving up emergency room visits and hospital admissions across the United States, including in New Jersey. Public health experts warn a “quad-demic” — a contagious combination of COVID-19, influenza, RSV and norovirus — has increased pressure on New Jersey hospitals this winter. Emergency department visits and hospital admissions remain elevated for COVID-19, influenza, and RSV, according to the state’s latest respiratory illness surveillance report. ... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there have been at least 16 million illnesses, 190,000 hospitalizations, and 8,300 deaths from flu so far this season. Thirty-one of those deaths were among children, according to the CDC. [Click on the title's link for more data and a national map, with updates by the CDC on 1/22/25.] 

Palliative care is essential for seriously ill patients—at any ageAMA (American Medical Association); by Kevin B. O'Reilly; 1/27/25 The AMA House of Delegates has adopted new policies outlining physicians’ ethical obligation to provide or seek optimal palliative care for patients with serious illnesses who can benefit from comprehensive management of pain and other distressing symptoms—not only those with terminal illnesses or on the precipice of death. “Physicians have clinical ethical responsibilities to address the pain and suffering occasioned by illness and injury and to respect their patients as whole persons,” says one of the new policies adopted at the latest AMA Interim Meeting, held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. “These duties require physicians to assure the provision of effective palliative care whenever a patient is experiencing serious, chronic, complex or critical illness, regardless of prognosis.” 

Children’s book written by Manheim Township mother finally published 3 years after she died of cancer [video] LNP Lancaster Online, Lancaster, PA; by John Walk; 1/27/25 As she battled a rare sarcoma cancer over the last two years of her life, Manheim Township resident Ginny McCreary struggled to find a children’s book she could read to her two young daughters to help them better understand what she was going through. So McCreary wrote the book herself, sometimes on a smartphone while laying in bed late at night, ... McCreary died Aug. 15, 2021. She was 34. She left behind a self-published manuscript of the children’s book that sat idle for about two years but was not forgotten. ... The book has also made its way inside four Hospice & Community Care locations in Lancaster as well as Penn Medicine’s Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute in East Hempfield Township. [Video with Ginny's mother] "I'd love to get it to some cancer centers and hospice centers ..." [Click on the title's link for more information.]

‘No One Dies Alone': How KMOX's Dave Glover turned personal loss into a mission of hope NBC 5, St. Louis, MO; by Mike Bush; 1/19/25 For 25 years, Dave Glover's voice has been a familiar presence on KMOX radio, but it was a personal tragedy that led him to his most meaningful role yet – as a volunteer bringing comfort to those in their final hours. ... While spending countless hours at his mother's bedside, Glover discovered something remarkable – an organization called NODA (No One Dies Alone). When his family was exhausted from their bedside vigil, the nursing staff told them, "You need to go home. And we have this organization of volunteers, called NODA." Julie Strassman, manager of Support Services with Bethesda Hospice Care, explains NODA's mission: ...

US dementia cases projected to double within 40 years Medscape Medical News; by Pauline Anderson; 1/13/25 The number of US adults who will develop dementia each year is projected to increase from approximately 514,000 in 2020 to about 1 million in 2060, new research shows. In addition, the lifetime risk of developing dementia after age 55 is estimated at 42%. The research showed that the relative growth in dementia cases is particularly pronounced for Black adults. These new findings researchers say, “highlight the urgent need for policies that enhance healthy aging, with a focus on health equity.”

How poor communication is killing patients and burning out doctors Medpage Today's KevinMD.com; by Pamela Buchanan; 1/14/25 This week alone, I had two particularly heart-wrenching encounters [as an Emergency Room physician]: A 65-year-old man with metastatic lung cancer, convinced his shortness of breath was just pneumonia. When I explained the progression of his disease, he was shocked. No one had told him that his cancer was likely incurable. A 97-year-old woman brought in for “failure to thrive.” She was frail, pale, and not eating—classic signs of the final stages of metastatic cancer. When I suggested hospice care, she seemed blindsided, as if this reality was completely new to her. Both cases highlight a troubling trend: Patients often come to the ER not just for care, but for clarity. They don’t understand their diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment plan. ...