Evan Lilly
Western University, Canada
Title: Palliative care in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: The case for early integration
Biography
Biography: Evan Lilly
Abstract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the only major worldwide cause of mortality increasing in prevalence. Furthermore, COPD is currently incurable, with oxygen being the only therapy shown to have a mortality benefit. Compared to patients with cancer, patients with COPD experience similar levels of pain, breathlessness, fatigue, depression, anxiety, and have a worse quality of life, but have comparatively little access to palliative care . When these patients do receive palliative care, they tend to be referred later than do patients with cancer. Many disease-, patient-, and provider-related factors contribute to this phenomenon, including COPD’s unpredictable course, misperceptions of palliative care among patients and physicians, and lack of advance care planning (ACP) discussions outside of crisis situations. An integrated palliative care approach would introduce palliative treatments alongside, rather than at the exclusion of, disease-modifying interventions. This approach has the potential to address many of the barriers to palliative care in these patients.