Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26969631›Full record

Trial reportHeart (British Cardiac Society)2016

Effects of a transitional palliative care model on patients with end-stage heart failure: a randomised controlled trial.

Frances Kam Yuet Wong, Alina Yee Man Ng, Paul Hong Lee, Po-Tin Lam, Jeffrey Sheung Ching Ng, Nancy Hiu Yim Ng, Michael Mau Kwong Sham

Abstract readMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Heart (British Cardiac Society), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 16 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
85citing papers in PubMed, 16 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

85 citing papers in PubMed, 16 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  17. Early palliative care in heart failure shows neutral effects across EF subtypes: an exploratory EPCHF secondary analysis.Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society · 2026
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25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Frances Kam Yuet WongSchool of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Alina Yee Man NgSchool of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Paul Hong LeeSchool of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.ORCID 0000-0002-5729-6450
Po-Tin LamDepartment of Medicine and Geriatrics, United Christian Hospital, Hong Kong, China.
Jeffrey Sheung Ching NgDepartment of Medicine, Haven of Hope Hospital, Hong Kong, China.
Nancy Hiu Yim NgDepartment of Medicine and Geriatrics, United Christian Hospital, Hong Kong, China.
Michael Mau Kwong ShamPalliative Medical Unit, Grantham Hospital, Hong Kong, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo examine the effects of home-based transitional palliative care for patients with end-stage heart failure (ESHF) after hospital discharge.

methodsThis was a randomised controlled trial conducted in three hospitals in Hong Kong. The recruited subjects were patients with ESHF who had been discharged home from hospitals and referred for palliative service, and who met the specified inclusion criteria. The interventions consisted of weekly home visits/telephone calls in the first 4 weeks then monthly follow-up, provided by a nurse case manager supported by a multidisciplinary team. The primary outcome measures were any readmission and count of readmissions within 4 and 12 weeks after index discharge, compared using χ(2) tests and Poisson regression, respectively. Secondarily, change in symptoms over time between control and intervention groups were evaluated using generalised estimating equation analyses of data collected using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS).

resultsThe intervention group (n=43) had a significantly lower readmission rate than the control group (n=41) at 12 weeks (intervention 33.6% vs control 61.0% χ(2)=6.8, p=0.009). The mean number (SE) of readmissions for the intervention and control groups was, respectively, 0.42 (0.10) and 1.10 (0.16) and the difference was significant (p=0.001). The relative risk (CI) for 12-week readmissions for the intervention group was 0.55 (0.35 to 0.88). There was no significant difference in readmissions between groups at 4 weeks. However, when compared with the control group, the intervention group experienced significantly higher clinical improvement in depression (45.9% vs 16.1%, p<0.05), dyspnoea (62.2% vs 29.0%, p<0.05) and total ESAS score (73.0% vs 41.4%, p<0.05) at 4 weeks. There were significant differences between groups in changes over time in quality of life (QOL) measured by McGill QOL (p<0.05) and chronic HF (p<0.01) questionnaires.

conclusionsThis study provides evidence of the effectiveness of a postdischarge transitional care palliative programme in reducing readmissions and improving symptom control among patients with ESHF. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: HKCTR-1562; Results.

Indexed as

Home Care Services, Hospital-BasedTransitional CareAgedAged, 80 and overChi-Square DistributionFemaleHeart FailureHong KongHouse CallsHumansMaleMiddle AgedPalliative CarePatient DischargePatient ReadmissionQuality of Life

Identifiers

PMID26969631
PMCPMC4941184

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.