Early Palliative Care May Improve Quality of Life for CF Patients

Cystic Fibrosis News Today has spotlighted a recent study that shows how palliative care can help Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients.

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School have developed a primary palliative care framework to improve CF patient care and reduce the symptom burden. This model aims to integrate palliative care with standard CF therapies to promote a positive effect on the long-term quality of life for these patients.

The results were reported in the study titled “The CF-CARES primary palliative care model: A CF-specific structured assessment of symptoms, distress, and coping,” published in the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis. The study is integrated in a CF clinical project called CF-CARES (Coping, goal Assessment, and Relief from Evolving Symptoms of Cystic Fibrosis).

A total of 41 adolescents and adults with cystic fibrosis were included in the study. After patient evaluation, the authors reported that about 34 percent showed signs of anxiety and 44 percent had depression. These psychological symptoms correlated with distress from CF physical symptoms and difficulty with disease self-management, but not with disease severity. The results indicate that each CF patient may require specific support, suggesting an individualized evaluation and a palliative care intervention. Click here to read more.