Trial reportBMC palliative care2024
Palliative care for patients with heart failure and family caregivers in rural Appalachia: a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in BMC palliative care, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04153890 (Coaching End-of-Life Palliative Care for End-Stage Heart Failure Patients and Their Family Caregivers in Rural Appalachia), which is not on this map. Cited by 9 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.
Coaching End-of-Life Palliative Care for End-Stage Heart Failure Patients and Their Family Caregivers in Rural Appalachia
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Palliative care in advanced heart failure: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ supportive & palliative care · 2026Pooled it
- Interventions for reducing caregiver burden in chronic dyspnea: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Approaches to screening and enrollment in clinical trials for seriously ill older adults in rural Appalachia.Contemporary clinical trials · 2026Article
- Patient-centered burdens and economic outcomes among patients who are veterans, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and people living in rural areas and their caregivers: a scoping review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Palliative care conditions managed at home and self-reported challenges experienced by informal home-based caregivers in Rwanda: a qualitative study.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Reducing Caregiver Burden Through Dyadic Support in Palliative Care: A Systematic Review Focused on Middle-Aged and Older Adults.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Personalizing Care for Informal Heart Failure Caregivers: Challenges and Practical Implications.Current heart failure reports · 2025Review
- Quality of Life in Heart Failure Patients: The Effect of Anxiety and Depression (Patient-Caregiver) and Caregivers' Quality of Life.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2025Article
- Study protocol of sustaining home palliative care for patients with Heart Failure (HF) and their family caregivers in rural Appalachia: a mixed methods randomized clinical trial.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
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHeart failure (HF) is a debilitating disease with worsening symptoms and family caregiving burden. HF affects more than 8 million Americans. West Virginia has the highest HF death rate in the U.S. and limited healthcare services. This study tested whether the family HF palliative and end-of-life care intervention (FamPALcare) improved patient and caregiver outcomes at 3- and 6-month study endpoints.
methodsThis study used a randomized controlled trial design. Patients with HF and their caregivers were randomly assigned together to the intervention (n = 21) or control (n = 18) group. The intervention included five telephone coaching sessions on the HF home, palliative, and end-of-life care. The outcome data collected at baseline and at 3 and 6 months were from the patients' (a) HF-related health status and depression/anxiety scale scores; and from caregivers' (b) caregiving burden and depression/anxiety scale scores; and (c) anonymous ratings on the 11-item FamPALcare helpfulness scale, completed by the intervention participants.
resultsThe mean age of the patients was 65.66 (SD = 13.72) years, and 67% were White males. The mean age of the caregivers was 62.05 (SD = 13.14) years, and 77% were White females. Compared to the controls, patients in the intervention group had significantly greater scores for HF-related health status (p < .05) and lower depression/anxiety scores at 6 months, the study endpoint. The family caregivers in the intervention group had significantly lower scores on caregiving burden (p < .05) and depression/anxiety (p < .01) at 3 months. The mean helpfulness rating was M = 4.46 out of 5 (SD = 0.49).
conclusionsThe FamPALcare intervention was found to be effective at improving patient HF-related health status and reducing caregiver burden and improving both patient and caregiver depression and anxiety scores. The FamPALcare HF intervention was found feasible and consistently delivered (fidelity). The FamPALcare intervention's cost-effectiveness and helpfulness ratings information will be used to plan for subsequent clinical trials.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04153890, Registered on 4 November 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04153890 .
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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 Socratic graph.