ArticleBMC palliative care2023
Symptom and problem clusters in German specialist palliative home care - a factor analysis of non-oncological and oncological patients' symptom burden.
Article in BMC palliative care, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Palliative care needs in adults with chronic disease: a systematic review of measuring instruments.BMC palliative care · 2026Pooled it
- A knowledge graph-driven paradigm for holistic symptom management: development and evaluation of a nurse-led KG-QA system in community palliative care.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- Use and evaluation of psychological interventions in specialist palliative care settings: results of a national online survey with psychologists and psycho-oncologists.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- 'Phase of Illness' in oncology patients receiving specialist palliative home care: a mixed methods study on phase-specific burden, needs and use of resources.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- Symptom burden and patient characteristics in specialist palliative care: a descriptive analysis.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- Palliative psychological care in Germany: Results of a national online survey with psychologists and psycho-oncologists in specialist palliative care settings.Palliative care and social practice · 2026Article
- Psychometric properties of palliative care outcome measures: a multi-centre study.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2025Article
- Wellbeing status and priority concerns of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma: results of the EONS PROMs project international online survey.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
- Impact of Symptom Distress on the Quality of Life of Oncology Palliative Care Patients: A Portuguese Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
backgroundSpecialist palliative home care (SPHC) aims to maintain and improve patients' quality of life in the community setting. Symptom burden may differ between oncological and non-oncological patients. However, little is known about diagnosis-related differences of SPHC patients. This study aims to describe the prevalence of physical symptom burden and psychosocial problems of adult patients in SPHC, and to evaluate diagnosis-related symptom clusters.
methodsSecondary analysis of data from a prospective, cross-sectional, multi-centre study on complexity of patients, registered at the German Register for Clinical Studies (DRKS trial registration number: DRKS00020517, 12/10/2020). Descriptive statistics on physical symptom burden and psychosocial problems at the beginning of care episodes. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to identify symptom and problem clusters.
resultsSeven hundred seventy-eight episodes from nine SPHC teams were included, average age was 75 years, mean duration of episode 18.6 days (SD 19.4). 212/778 (27.2%) had a non-oncological diagnosis. Main burden in non-oncological episodes was due to poor mobility (194/211; 91.9%) with significant diagnosis-related differences (χ² = 8.145, df = 1, p = .004; oncological: 472/562; 84.0%), and due to weakness (522/565; 92.4%) in oncological episodes. Two symptom clusters (psychosocial and physical) for non-oncological and three clusters (psychosocial, physical and communicational/practical) for oncological groups were identified. More patients in the non-oncological group compared to the oncological group showed at least one symptom cluster (83/212; 39.2% vs. 172/566; 30.4%).
conclusionPatients with non-oncological diseases had shorter episode durations and were more affected by symptom clusters, whereas patients with oncological diseases showed an additional communicational/practical cluster. Our findings indicate the high relevance of care planning as an important part of SPHC to facilitate anticipatory symptom control in both groups.
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