Effect of early palliative care on quality of life in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

Background Patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (nsclc) experience great pain and stress. Our study aimed to explore the effect of early palliative care on quality of life in patients with nsclc. Methods A total of 150 patients were randomly divided into two groups: control group with conventional care and study group with early palliative care. The quality of life (qol) rating scale and self-rating scale of life quality (sslq) were used to analyze the patients’ quality of life. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-D/A (hads-d/a) and Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (phq-9) were used to analyze the patients’ mood. Pulmonary function indexes of peak expiratory flow (pef), functional residual capacity (frc), and trachea-esophageal fistula 25% (tef 25%) were analyzed using the lung function detector. Results The qol and sslq scales scores of patients receiving early palliative care were significantly higher than those in the control group ( p < 0.05). Moreover, the questionnaire results of the hads-d/a and phq-9 were better in patients receiving palliative care than in the control group ( p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). In addition, analytical results of pulmonary function showed that the levels of pef, frc, and tef 25% in patients assigned to early palliative care were remarkably higher than those in the control group ( p < 0.01 or p < 0.001). Conclusions These data demonstrate that early palliative care improves life quality, mood, and pulmonary function of nsclc patients, indicating that early palliative care could be used as a clinically meaningful and feasible care model for patients with metastatic nsclc.