Trial reportInternational journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease2017
Proactive palliative care for patients with COPD (PROLONG): a pragmatic cluster controlled trial.
Trial report in International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Nurse Led Advance Care Planning Intervention for Chronic Respiratory Diseases: A Meta-Analysis.Nursing open · 2025Pooled it
- A 7-point evidence-based care discharge protocol for patients hospitalized for exacerbation of COPD: consensus strategy and expert recommendation.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Criteria for Enrollment of Patients With COPD in Palliative Care Trials: A Systematic Review.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2024Pooled it
- Needs-based triggers for timely referral to palliative care for older adults severely affected by noncancer conditions: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.BMC palliative care · 2023Pooled it
- Effectiveness and implementation of palliative care interventions for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review.Palliative medicine · 2021Pooled it
- The effect of an integrated palliative care intervention on quality of life and acute healthcare use in patients with COPD: Results of the COMPASSION cluster randomized controlled trial.Palliative medicine · 2023Trial
- Does Cognitive Function Influence the Benefits of Multicomponent Team Interventions?Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · 2026Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Healthcare Providers Towards Advance Directive for COPD Patients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Serious Illness Communication in a Randomized Trial of a Nurse and Social Worker Palliative Telecare Team.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2025Article
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A narrative synthesis of its hallmarks for palliative care clinicians.European journal of internal medicine · 2025Review
- End-of-life care for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a scoping review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2024Article
- Project EPIC (Early Palliative Care In COPD): A Formative and Summative Evaluation of the EPIC Telehealth Intervention.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2023Article
- How Important is Spirometry for Identifying Patients with COPD Appropriate for Palliative Care?Journal of pain and symptom management · 2023Article
- Discussing prognosis and the end of life with patients with advanced cancer or COPD: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2022Article
- Stakeholders' Views on Reducing Psychological Distress in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2022Article
- Palliative Care and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Readmissions: A Narrative Review.Cureus · 2021Review
- A cluster randomized controlled trial on a multifaceted implementation strategy to promote integrated palliative care in COPD: study protocol of the COMPASSION study.BMC palliative care · 2020Article
- Predicting and preventing hospital readmission for exacerbations of COPD.ERJ open research · 2020Review
- Palliative care for patients with substance use disorder and multiple problems: a qualitative study on experiences of healthcare professionals, volunteers and experts-by-experience.BMC palliative care · 2020Article
- Screening with the double surprise question to predict deterioration and death: an explorative study.BMC palliative care · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimPatients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have poor quality of life. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of proactive palliative care on the well-being of these patients.
trial registrationThis trial is registered with the Netherlands Trial Register, NTR4037. PATIENTS AND
methodsA pragmatic cluster controlled trial (quasi-experimental design) was performed with hospitals as cluster (three intervention and three control) and a pretrial assessment was performed. Hospitals were selected for the intervention group based on the presence of a specialized palliative care team (SPCT). To control for confounders, a pretrial assessment was performed in which hospitals were compared on baseline characteristics. Patients with COPD with poor prognosis were recruited during hospitalization for acute exacerbation. All patients received usual care while patients in the intervention group received additional proactive palliative care in monthly meetings with an SPCT. Our primary outcome was change in quality of life score after 3 months, which was measured using the St George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). Secondary outcomes were, among others, quality of life at 6, 9 and 12 months; readmissions: survival; and having made advance care planning (ACP) choices. All analyses were performed following the principle of intention to treat.
resultsDuring the year 2014, 228 patients (90 intervention and 138 control) were recruited and at 3 months, 163 patients (67 intervention and 96 control) completed the SGRQ. There was no significant difference in change scores of the SGRQ total at 3 months between groups (-0.79 [95% CI, -4.61 to 3.34],
conclusionProactive palliative care did not improve the overall quality of life of patients with COPD. However, patients more often made ACP choices which may lead to better quality of care toward the end of life.
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Registered trials
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.