SynthesisBMC palliative care2024
A palliative care approach for adult non-cancer patients with life-limiting illnesses is cost-saving or cost-neutral: a systematic review of RCTs.
Synthesis in BMC palliative care, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Models, components and outcomes of palliative and end-of-life care provided to adults living at home: A systematic umbrella review of reviews.Palliative medicine · 2025Pooled it
- A modelled cost-utility analysis comparing early referral to specialist palliative care versus standard care for older people with acute myeloid leukaemia.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Disparities in hospice enrollment timing and end-of-life care intensity across non-cancer diagnoses: a 10-year hospital-based cohort study.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Drivers of avoidable emergency department visits in older adults with multiple long-term conditions and palliative care needs: a qualitative survey across six care providers.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- A descriptive analysis of hospital-based palliative care services: a case study from Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Community participation and consultation in palliative and end-of-life care: Building death literacy through a participatory theory of change.Palliative care and social practice · 2026Article
- Identifying clusters of healthcare expenditure trajectories in end-stage organ disease: a retrospective cohort study using linked administrative databases in Singapore.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Factors that support home deaths for patients receiving at-home palliative and end-of-life care: a sequential mixed-methods explanatory study.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- How, when and why is emotional support delivered using videoconferencing by adult palliative care services successful? A realist synthesis.Palliative care and social practice · 2025Review
- Patients' and caregivers' experiences of familial and social support in resource-poor settings: A systematically constructed review and meta-synthesis.Palliative care and social practice · 2025Review
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
backgroundPatients living with life-limiting illnesses other than cancer constitute the majority of patients in need of palliative care globally, yet most previous systematic reviews of the cost impact of palliative care have not exclusively focused on this population. Reviews that tangentially looked at non-cancer patients found inconclusive evidence. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for treatment efficacy, while total health care costs offer a comprehensive measure of resource use. In the sole review of RCTs for non-cancer patients, palliative care reduced hospitalisations and emergency department visits but its effect on total health care costs was not assessed. The aim of this study is to review RCTs to determine the difference in costs between a palliative care approach and usual care in adult non-cancer patients with a life-limiting illness.
methodsA systematic review using a narrative synthesis approach. The protocol was registered with PROSPERO prospectively (no. CRD42020191082). Eight databases were searched: Medline, CINAHL, EconLit, EMBASE, TRIP database, NHS Evidence, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science from inception to January 2023. Inclusion criteria were: English or German; randomised controlled trials (RCTs); adult non-cancer patients (> 18 years); palliative care provision; a comparator group of standard or usual care. Quality of studies was assessed using Drummond's checklist for assessing economic evaluations.
resultsSeven RCTs were included and examined the following diseases: neurological (3), heart failure (2), AIDS (1) and mixed (1). The majority (6/7) were home-based interventions. All studies were either cost-saving (3/7) or cost-neutral (4/7); and four had improved outcomes for patients or carers and three no change in outcomes.
conclusionsIn a non-cancer population, this is the first systematic review of RCTs that has demonstrated a palliative care approach is cost-saving or at least cost-neutral. Cost savings are achieved without worsening outcomes for patients and carers. These findings lend support to calls to increase palliative care provision globally.
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.