Quality of life in incurable patients as a criterion of effectiveness of palliative care

Abstract

Introduction. The problem of palliative care developing is actual due to the increasing the proportion of older people and the number of patients with incurable diseases. The task of palliative care is to improve the quality of life in the incurable patient. To choose the best ways for solving this problem it is important to analyze all components of QL and it’s important for the evaluating the effectiveness of the measures taken.
 The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life in patients in the palliative care unit and its trend.
 Material and methods. The base of study — palliative care department. The EORTIC — QLQ30 and MSAS — SF questionnaires were used. The sample of patients included 82 people. The share of people with non-oncological diseases was 54.9%, with cancer — 45.1%. The study was conducted with an interval of one month.
 Results. The analysis of the trend in the quality of life showed unreliable (p > 0.05) decrease in the QL: 31.5 — 25.4 points (the maximum is 100 points). The trend in the partial components were multidirectional. The indicators of the functional scale and the symptom scale decreased from 34.7 to 29.8 points and from 30.3 to 29.9 points. The indicator of financial well-being increased: 35.0 and 38.6 points, social 
 well–being — from 14.0 to 17.1. According to the scales characterizing the psycho-emotional status of patients, there is a positive trend: the average score of emotional well-being increased from 68.1 to 74.4; cognitive — from 44.7 to 53.2. The overall GDI distress index on the MSAS-SF scale increased from 2.3 to 2.4 points (with a maximum of 4 points).
 Limitations. patients receiving palliative care; satisfactory condition; follow-up interval — at least a month.
 Conclusion. Trend assessment in the quality of life in patients receiving palliative care should be carried out to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the urgent problems of the patient treatment, correction of therapeutic and care measures and may indicate their effectiveness.