Physical, emotional, and practical symptom burden in patients with terminal illnesses

Physical, emotional, and practical symptom burden in patients with terminal illnesses
Annals of Palliative Medicine; by Charles B. Simone II; 7/24
End of life care can best be optimized by understanding the scope of symptom burden that patients face with end-stage diseases. As this symptom burden differs for different terminal conditions—from cancer to heart disease to neurological or kidney or pulmonary diseases, for example—it is critical to understand the symptoms and overall holistic effects that each diseases places on patients. The Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale (IPOS) is a widely used and validated patient-reported tool consisting of 17 items (10 measuring physical symptoms, 4 measuring emotional symptoms, and 3 measuring communication/practical issues) rated on a 5-point Likert scale. Fordjour and colleagues (1) identified some important differences across terminal conditions ... Finally, this study identified groups at higher risk of suffering from a greater symptom burden, including older patients, female patients, married or cohabitating patients, and patients who live alone, thus providing healthcare providers with information from which they can prioritize resources for these patient populations.