Prevalence of unmet palliative care needs in adults with cystic fibrosis

BackgroundPhysical and emotional burdens impair quality of life (QoL) in many adults with cystic fibrosis (CF). Palliative care (PC) improves QoL in other serious illnesses, yet the full array of palliative needs amenable to PC are unknown in CF.MethodsWe surveyed 164 adults with CF using the Supportive Care Needs Survey 34 (SCNS-34) to assess unmet PC needs across five domains, the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) to assess symptom burden, and the Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire—Revised (CFQ-R) to assess CF-specific QoL. We assessed associations between SCNS-34 domain scores and respondent characteristics, including symptom burden and FEV₁.ResultsMedian age was 29 years; 56% of respondents were male. Median FEV₁ was 57% predicted. 78% of respondents reported ≥1 unmet PC need; physical and daily living (72%) and psychological (66%) needs were most prevalent. Symptom burden was correlated with all SCNS-34 domains scores, and strongly correlated with the physical (r = 0.79) and psychological (r = 0.72) domain scores. FEV₁ was moderately inversely correlated with the physical domain score (r = −0.41). Forty-four of the 45 inverse correlations between SCNS-34 domain scores and CFQ-R domain scores were significant. Patient-reported depressive and anxiety symptoms were significantly associated with higher scores in five and four SCNS-34 domains, respectively.ConclusionsAdults with CF have substantial unmet PC needs. Patient-reported symptom burden is more strongly associated with reporting unmet PC needs than FEV₁. Routine screening of unmet PC needs, using tools such as the SCNS-34, may enable CF care teams to optimize the provision of primary and specialist PC.