Effect of Early Palliative Care on Quality of Life in Patients with Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Background: Patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) experience great pain and stress. Our study aimed to explore the effect of early palliative care on quality of life in patients with NSCLC. Methods: A total of 150 patients were randomly divided into two groups: control group with conventional care and study group with early palliative care. The quality of life (QOL) rating scale and self-rating scale of life quality (SSLQ) were used to analyze the patients’ quality of life. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-D/A (HADS-D/A) and Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) were used to analyze the patients’ mood. Pulmonary function indexes of peak expiratory flow (PEF), functional residual capacity (FRC), and trachea-esophageal fistula 25% (TEF 25%) were analyzed using the lung function detector. Results: The QOL and SSLQ scales scores of patients receiving early palliative care were significantly higher than those in the control group (p < 0.05). Moreover, the questionnaire results of the HADS-D/A and PHQ-9 were better in patients receiving palliative care than in the control group (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). In addition, analytical results of pulmonary function showed that the levels of PEF, FRC, and TEF 25% in patients assigned to early palliative care were remarkably higher than those in the control group (p < 0.01 or p < 0.001). Conclusions: These data demonstrate that early palliative care improves life quality, mood, and pulmonary function of NSCLC patients, indicating that early palliative care could be used as a clinically meaningful and feasible care model for patients with metastatic NSCLC.