Palliative Care Referral Patterns for Adolescent and Young Adult Patients at a Comprehensive Cancer Center

Palliative care (PC) serves a valuable role throughout the disease trajectory for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) living with cancer. A 3-year retrospective chart review was performed to characterize AYA PC referral patterns in patients aged 18-39 years to identify strategies for improving PC access. Despite known benefits, AYA referrals to PC during oncologic treatment occurred only for a small percentage of eligible patients (8.4%), largely occurred in the inpatient setting (73%), and were more likely in specific cancer types with high symptom burden and/or poor survival, with the greatest penetrance noted in lung cancer (51%).

Automated summary

The study found that although palliative care is beneficial for cancer patients, referrals to PC among AYAs aged 18-39 occurred at a low percentage and mostly in inpatient settings, with the highest rates observed in lung cancer.