Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37002561›Full record

Trial reportPalliative medicine2023

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.

Johanna Broese, Rianne Mjj van der Kleij, Els Ml Verschuur, Huib Am Kerstjens, Ewald M Bronkhorst, Yvonne Engels, Niels H Chavannes

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Palliative medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–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

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Conducting a randomized controlled clinical trial on palliative care in patients with glioblastoma - what are the challenges?Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026
    Article
  2. Integrated care for chronic respiratory disease: a narrative review.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026
    Review
  3. Does Cognitive Function Influence the Benefits of Multicomponent Team Interventions?Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · 2026
    Article
  4. Palliative Care for Patients with Severe Chronic Lung Diseases: A Swiss Position Paper.Respiration; international review of thoracic diseases · 2025
    Review
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Johanna BroeseDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0003-4815-2305
Rianne Mjj van der KleijDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Els Ml VerschuurLung Alliance Netherlands, Amersfoort, The Netherlands.
Huib Am KerstjensDepartment of Respiratory Medicine and Tuberculosis, University of Groningen and University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Ewald M BronkhorstHealth Evidence, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Yvonne EngelsDepartment of Anaesthesiology, Pain and Palliative Medicine, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-7669-1018
Niels H ChavannesDepartment of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCOPD causes high morbidity and mortality, emphasizing the need for palliative care.

aimTo assess the effectiveness of palliative care in patients with COPD.

designCluster randomized controlled trial (COMPASSION study; Netherlands Trial Register (NTR): NL7644, 07-04-2019). Healthcare providers within the intervention group were trained to implement palliative care components into routine COPD care. Patients completed questionnaires at baseline, after 3 and 6 months; medical records were assessed after 12 months. The primary outcome was quality of life (FACIT-Pal). Secondary outcomes were anxiety, depression, spiritual well-being, satisfaction with care, acute healthcare use, documentation of life-sustaining treatment preferences and place of death. Generalized linear mixed modelling was used for analyses.

settingEight hospital regions in the Netherlands.

participantsPatients hospitalized for an acute exacerbation of COPD and positive ProPal-COPD score.

resultsOf 222 patients included, 106 responded to the questionnaire at 6 months. Thirty-six of 98 intervention patients (36.7%) received the intervention. Intention-to-treat-analysis showed no effect on the primary outcome (adjusted difference: 1.09; 95% confidence interval: -5.44 to 7.60). In the intervention group, fewer intensive care admissions for COPD took place (adjusted odds ratio: 0.21; 95% confidence interval: 0.03-0.81) and strong indications were found for fewer hospitalizations (adjusted incidence rate ratio: 0.69; 95% confidence interval: 0.46-1.03).

conclusionsWe found no evidence that palliative care improves quality of life in patients with COPD. However, it can potentially reduce acute healthcare use. The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic led to suboptimal implementation and insufficient power, and may have affected some of our findings.

Indexed as

COVID-19Pulmonary Disease, Chronic ObstructiveDelivery of Health CareEmpathyHumansPalliative CarePandemicsQuality of Lifeclinical effectivenesscluster randomized controlled trialCOPDpalliative carequality of life

Identifiers

PMID37002561
PMCPMC10227092

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.