Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of palliative patients of neurological and oncological treatment profiles

The study was conducted to study the unexplored issues of regional differences in the need for Palliative and Hospice Care (PHC) in Ukraine and to statistically test the relationship between the parameters of quality of life, pain level and quality of pain relief in palliative patients with oncological and neurological treatment profiles. Medical-statistical (in particular, Spear­man's rank correlation), sociological (in particular, the SF-36 questionnaire on quality of life) and comparative methods were used. The need for PHC in all regions of Ukraine fluctuated within 1% of the population. No regional impacts were detected. For the medical-social study, customized groups of neurological (50 patients, 1st group) and oncological (50 patients, 2nd group) treatment profiles were formed from a cohort of 171 patients from the Kharkiv hospice. Significant (p<0.05) direct correlations were found between indicators of general health and vitality of 1st group patients (r=0.316), and between indicators of physical functioning and subjective assessment of treatment results within 3–4 weeks of 2nd group patients (reduction in manifestations of cancer intoxication and organ and system failure; r=0.332). The results confirmed the correctness of the modification of the SF-36 questionnaire at the previous stages of the study. A significant (p<0.05) moderate inverse relationship (r=-0.613) was determined between satisfaction with treatment and the level of pain according to Visual Analog Scale (VAS) in the group of 1st group patients; and a significant strong inverse relationship (r=-0.713) between satisfaction with treatment and the level of pain according to VAS in the group of 2nd group patients. The adequacy of painkiller prescription (timeliness of prescription and choice of drug) is low even during inpatient hospice treatment: 78% in patients with neurological treatment profile and 84% in patients with oncological treatment profile Keywords: palliative and hospice care, visual analog pain scale, quality of life, satisfaction with treatment.