How far along the disease trajectory? An examination of the time-related patient characteristics in the palliative oncology literature

Supakarn Tayjasanant, Eduardo Bruera, David Hui

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: Adequate reporting of time-related patient characteristics is needed for research findings to be properly interpreted, applied, and reproduced. Our objective was to characterize the time-related patient characteristics in palliative oncology studies and to examine the differences in time-related patient characteristics by various study characteristics. Methods: We extracted time-related patient characteristics including actual survival, performance status, cancer stage, disease trajectory, study setting, and eligibility criteria (life expectancy and performance status) from an established cohort of original palliative oncology articles published in 2004 and 2009. Results: Among 742 original articles, 409 (55 %) were case series. Only 247 (33 %) articles reported actual survival, 157 (21 %) reported actual performance status, 362 (49 %) cancer stage, and 392 (53 %) reported study setting. Based on all the available time-related characteristics, we were able to classify the studies into specific time-related categories in 378 (51 %) studies. Among these, only 47 (13 %) focused on patients in the last month of life. Compared to studies involving patients earlier in the disease trajectory, these studies were more likely to be case series (81 vs. 56 %, P = 0.005), retrospective (64 vs. 49 %, P = 0.03), and had a smaller sample size (median 20 vs. 61, P = 0.06). Conclusions: A majority of studies did not adequately report time-related patient characteristics. We also identified a gap in both the quantity and quality of studies involving patients in the last month of life. Our study has implications for study reporting and future directions for palliative oncology research.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3997-4004
Number of pages8
JournalSupportive Care in Cancer
Volume24
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2016

Keywords

  • Palliative care
  • Patient characteristics
  • Performance status
  • Reporting
  • Research
  • Survival

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'How far along the disease trajectory? An examination of the time-related patient characteristics in the palliative oncology literature'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this