TY - JOUR

T1 - Nausea at the start of specialized palliative care and change in nausea after the first weeks of palliative care were associated with cancer site, gender, and type of palliative care service-a nationwide study

AU - Hansen, Maiken Bang

AU - Adsersen, Mathilde

AU - Rojas-Concha, Leslye

AU - Petersen, Morten Aagaard

AU - Ross, Lone

AU - Grønvold, Mogens

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Purpose Nausea is a common and distressful symptom among patients in palliative care, but little is known about possible socio-demographic and clinical patient characteristics associated with nausea at the start of palliative care and change after initiation of palliative care. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patient characteristics were associated with nausea at the start of palliative care and with change in nausea during the first weeks of palliative care, respectively. Methods Data was obtained from the nationwide Danish Palliative Care Database. The study included adult cancer patients who were admitted to palliative care and died between June 2016 and December 2020 and reported nausea level at the start of palliative care and possibly 1-4 weeks later. The associations between patient characteristics and nausea at the start of palliative care and change in nausea during palliative care, respectively, were studied using multiple regression analyses. Results Nausea level was reported at the start of palliative care by 23,751 patients of whom 8037 also reported 1-4 weeks later. Higher nausea levels were found for women, patients with stomach or ovarian cancer, and inpatients at the start of palliative care. In multivariate analyses, cancer site was the variable most strongly associated with nausea change; the smallest nausea reductions were seen for myelomatosis and no reduction was seen for stomach cancer. Conclusion This study identified subgroups with the highest initial nausea level and those with the least nausea reduction after 1-4 weeks of palliative care. These latter findings should be considered in the initial treatment plan.

AB - Purpose Nausea is a common and distressful symptom among patients in palliative care, but little is known about possible socio-demographic and clinical patient characteristics associated with nausea at the start of palliative care and change after initiation of palliative care. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patient characteristics were associated with nausea at the start of palliative care and with change in nausea during the first weeks of palliative care, respectively. Methods Data was obtained from the nationwide Danish Palliative Care Database. The study included adult cancer patients who were admitted to palliative care and died between June 2016 and December 2020 and reported nausea level at the start of palliative care and possibly 1-4 weeks later. The associations between patient characteristics and nausea at the start of palliative care and change in nausea during palliative care, respectively, were studied using multiple regression analyses. Results Nausea level was reported at the start of palliative care by 23,751 patients of whom 8037 also reported 1-4 weeks later. Higher nausea levels were found for women, patients with stomach or ovarian cancer, and inpatients at the start of palliative care. In multivariate analyses, cancer site was the variable most strongly associated with nausea change; the smallest nausea reductions were seen for myelomatosis and no reduction was seen for stomach cancer. Conclusion This study identified subgroups with the highest initial nausea level and those with the least nausea reduction after 1-4 weeks of palliative care. These latter findings should be considered in the initial treatment plan.

KW - Signs and symptoms

KW - Quality of life

KW - Palliative care

KW - Nausea and neoplasms

KW - QUALITY-OF-LIFE

KW - EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL

KW - EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION

KW - SYMPTOM

KW - QUESTIONNAIRE

KW - IMPACT

KW - AGE

KW - SURVIVAL

KW - PROFILES

KW - SCORES

U2 - 10.1007/s00520-022-07310-0

DO - 10.1007/s00520-022-07310-0

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35960379

VL - 30

SP - 9471

EP - 9482

JO - Supportive Care in Cancer

JF - Supportive Care in Cancer

SN - 0941-4355

ER -