Palliative care could help improve the quality of life for Parkinson’s disease patients

A small study of individuals with Parkinson’s disease finds that adding palliative care to standard care may help raise their quality of life. Half the patients in a 210-person trial were assigned to visit physicians as usual, while the others also received palliative care — a team of a social worker, nurse, palliative medicine specialist, and chaplain visited the patient at home or via telemedicine to discuss symptoms and difficult emotions and offer support to caregivers. Patients in the combination care group had more improvement in their quality of life score (as measured by a survey that assesses physical and mental health). These patients also scored higher on quality of life measures when their caregivers were surveyed in their stead. In a related commentary, experts suggest that future studies should evaluate how different models of palliative care perform against each other.