ArticlePalliative & supportive care2025
Total suffering and will to live in persons with life-limiting diseases: Results from an Iberian multicenter study.
Article in Palliative & supportive care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Assessment of the use of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale - Revised (ESAS-r) among hospitalised patients with limited life expectancy: A cross-sectional study.Palliative care and social practice · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
21 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe concept of total suffering is widely recognized in palliative care (PC), encompassing a range of interconnected and complex factors that collectively shape the evolving and individualized experience of a patient's illness journey. Studies on will to live (WtL) in terminally ill patients have demonstrated its variability over time and various factors that influence these changes.
methodsTo objectively investigate the concept of total suffering and WtL; including their fluctuation over time and associations with sociodemographic, clinical, physical, and psychological symptoms in a sample of individuals with life-limiting conditions receiving PC. This multicenter Iberian study involved 3 centers in Portugal and 1 in Spain. A total of 107 individuals with life-limiting conditions consented to participate. To capture the dynamic and multifaceted components of total suffering, we had each participant completed the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS) along an additional WtL visual analogue once daily over a 30-day period.
resultsWtL demonstrated various patterns over time. While some patterns reflected relative stability, other demonstrated substantive fluctuation during the course of illness. Significant correlations were observed between WtL and all other ESAS items. Moderate positive correlations were found between WtL and total ESAS score and its physical and psychological sub-scores. Spearman's correlation coefficients between all physical and psychosocial items on the ESAS were statistically significant across all 45 correlations performed, with only 5 showing moderate strength; the remaining correlations were weaker. SIGNIFICANCE OF
resultsEvidence-based understanding of WtL is critical to improving care for patients who experience suffering toward end-of-life and their families. Further research is needed to inform and refine interventions targeting total suffering.
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