Palliative Care News and Research

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Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.

Combination treatment improves symptoms of agitated delirium in end-of-life cancer patients

Treatment with a combination of haloperidol and lorazepam reduced symptoms of agitated delirium, a common end-of-life condition for patients with advanced cancers, compared with haloperidol alone, according to a new study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

16 Sep 2024

Exploring Japanese medicine: Longevity, lifestyle, and emerging health priorities

Investigating Japanese longevity reveals the impact of lifestyle medicine and government strategies on health, offering lessons for global wellness initiatives.

16 Sep 2024

New initiative aims to set gold standards for palliative care training

Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life of patients and their families facing problems associated with life-threatening illnesses.

13 Sep 2024

Study highlights benefits of 20-minute mindful breathing for cancer patients

Twenty minutes of mindful breathing, which focuses a person's attention on their breath, can rapidly reduce the intensity and unpleasantness of cancer pain and relieve the associated anxiety, suggest the findings of a small comparative study, published online in the journal BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care.

20 Aug 2024

Traveling to die: The latest form of medical tourism

In the 18 months after Francine Milano was diagnosed with a recurrence of the ovarian cancer she thought she'd beaten 20 years ago, she traveled twice from her home in Pennsylvania to Vermont.

20 Aug 2024

American College of Cardiology releases updated guidance on managing patients hospitalized for heart failure

The American College of Cardiology has issued updated guidance on managing patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF) to provide a decision-making pathway that tailors therapy to clinical trajectory to better manage disease.

8 Aug 2024

Sugar-sweetened beverage taxes reduce child and adolescent BMI

Study reveals that city-level sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes significantly reduce body mass index (BMI) percentiles in children and adolescents. The findings support SSB taxation as a viable strategy to combat childhood obesity.

5 Aug 2024

Increased cannabis use in diabetics raises concerns about health risks

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found a significant increase in cannabis use among adults with diabetes in the United States, raising concerns about the potential impact on their health outcomes. The new study, which analyzed nationally representative data from the 2021-2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), estimated that 9.0 percent of adults with diabetes used cannabis in the past month, with a 33.7 percent increase in prevalence - from 7.7 percent to 10.3 percent - between 2021 and 2022.

23 Jul 2024

Study analyzes lack of palliative care referrals for nursing home residents

Palliative care, specialized medical care focusing on providing relief from the symptoms -- including pain -- and the stress of serious illness, is underutilized in nursing homes, despite the large number of nursing home residents living with a serious illness such as cancer, dementia, Parkinson's disease, heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

16 Jul 2024

Innovative hospice transition program boosts timely care for terminal patients

For patients who are in the final stages of both gradual and sudden terminal illnesses, hospice care can provide safe, comfortable, and dignified care at the end of life.

8 Jul 2024

Implementing patient-centered palliative care may help improve quality of life for people with heart disease

Implementing patient-centered palliative care therapies, including prescribing, adjusting or discontinuing medications as needed, may help control symptoms and improve quality of life for people with heart disease, according to "Palliative Pharmacotherapy for Cardiovascular Disease," a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association, published today in the Association's journal, Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

1 Jul 2024

NAA's National Summit plans to address the neglect of Australians living with neurological conditions

Neurological conditions are on the rise in Australia and worldwide, yet despite being recognized as one of the nation's top disease burdens, neurological conditions remain under-recognized and underfunded.

22 Jun 2024

Rutgers Health study reveals key factors in hospice discharges leading to negative outcomes

Black patients who leave hospice care and patients with short stays in hospice care are at increased risks for being admitted to a hospital after being discharged from hospice, according to Rutgers Health researchers.

18 Jun 2024

Report reveals rising rates of fatal opioid overdoses in Ontario shelters

Researchers from the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN) at St. Michael's Hospital and Public Health Ontario analyzed health data from the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario and ICES, and found that there were 210 accidental opioid-related toxicity deaths within shelters between January 2018 to May 2022, with the number of deaths more than tripling during the study period (48 before the pandemic versus 162 during the pandemic).

18 Jun 2024

Physician-pharmacy integration not associated with change in the care of cancer patients

Integration of pharmacies with physician practices, where on-site pharmacies open at physician practice locations, is a growing trend in cancer treatment.

23 May 2024

AML patients at the extremes of older age derive benefit from VEN-HMA regimen

Standard of care treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is safe and effective for adults over 80, according to a study published in Blood Neoplasia. For roughly a quarter of patients, this treatment can durably prolong survival.

9 May 2024

Study reveals disparities in palliative care for people with opioid use disorder

Compared with people without opioid use disorder, those with opioid use disorder were less likely to receive palliative care in clinics and in their homes, and were dying at younger ages of causes other than opioid use, according to new research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.231419.

29 Apr 2024

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