Palliative care improves quality of life and reduces symptom burden in adults with life-limiting illness

Commentary on: Kavalieratos D, Corbelli J, Zhang D, et al. Association between palliative care and patient and caregiver outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA 2016;316:2104–14.[OpenUrl][1] Palliative care (PC) focuses on improving quality of life (QoL) and reducing suffering for seriously ill patients and their families, and has become an international health priority.1 The previous decade saw increasing evidence of an association between PC and better outcomes.2 As a result, PC has been included in international guidelines, which recommend PC integration early in the disease trajectory.1 Kavalieratos et al … [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DJAMA%26rft.volume%253D316%26rft.spage%253D2104%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx