SynthesisBMJ supportive & palliative care2024
Screening instruments for early identification of unmet palliative care needs: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMJ supportive & palliative care, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Palliative care needs in adults with chronic disease: a systematic review of measuring instruments.BMC palliative care · 2026Pooled it
- Global performance of machine learning models to predict all-cause mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Early diagnostic tools in palliative care in Morocco: healthcare professionals' knowledge, perceptions, and barriers at Ibn Sina University hospital centre.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- Signs and symptoms indicating the transition to the palliative phase in patients with COPD and heart failure in primary healthcare: a mixed-methods study.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- A pilot study of the Palliative Care and Rapid Emergency Screening (P-CaRES) tool to screen older emergency department patients for palliative care in Malaysia.Internal and emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Factors associated with a positive response to the surprise question in complex chronic patients treated by advanced practice nurses in primary care.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- Screening Tools for the Early Identification of Palliative Care Needs in Patients with Advanced Chronic Conditions: An Updated Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Evaluating Palliative Care Needs in Patients with Advanced Non-Malignant Chronic Conditions: An Umbrella Review of Needs Assessment Tools.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Promising Concept, Challenging Implementation of a Minimally Invasive Intervention (MINI) to Identify Patients in Their Last Year of Life-A Multi-Methods Feasibility Study at a German University Hospital.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Assessment of Palliative Care Needs in Non-oncological Patients in Primary Health Care: A Cross-Sectional Study.Cureus · 2025Article
- Using the P-CaRES Tool to Identify Palliative Care Needs in Patients with Life-Limiting Diseases: An Analysis of Internal Medicine Admissions.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Chinese version of supportive and palliative care indicators tool (SPICT-CH) to identify cancer patients with palliative care needs.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe early detection of individuals who require palliative care is essential for the timely initiation of palliative care services. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to (1) Identify the screening instruments used by health professionals to promote early identification of patients who may benefit from palliative care; and (2) Assess the psychometric properties and clinical performance of the instruments.
methodsA comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, CNKI and Wanfang from inception to May 2023. We used the COnsensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement INstruments to assess the methodological quality of the development process for the instruments. The clinical performance of the instruments was assessed by narrative summary or meta-analysis. Subgroup analyses were conducted where necessary. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias assessment tool.
resultsWe included 31 studies that involved seven instruments. Thirteen studies reported the development and validation process of these instruments and 18 studies related to assessment of clinical performance of these instruments. The content validity of the instruments was doubtful or inadequate because of very low to moderate quality evidence. The pooled sensitivity (Se) ranged from 60.0% to 73.8%, with high heterogeneity (I2 of 88.15% to 99.36%). The pooled specificity (Sp) ranges from 70.4% to 90.2%, with high heterogeneity (I2 of 96.81% to 99.94%). The Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool (SPICT) had better performance in hospitals than in general practice settings (Se=79.8% vs 45.3%, p=0.004; Sp=59.1% vs 97.0%, p=0.000).
conclusionThe clinical performance of existing instruments in identifying patients with palliative care needs early ranged from poor to reasonable. The SPICT is used most commonly, has better clinical performance than other instruments but performs better in hospital settings than in general practice settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
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 Socratic graph.