Originally published as JCO Early Release 10.1200/JCO.2008.17.6230 on November 10 2008

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Save to my personal folders Download to citation manager Rights & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Tieman, J. Articles by Currow, D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Tieman, J. Articles by Currow, D. Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

Changes in the Quantity and Level of Evidence of Palliative and Hospice Care Literature: The Last Century

Jennifer Tieman, Ruth Sladek, David Currow

From the Department of Palliative and Supportive Services, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

Corresponding author: Jennifer Tieman, BSc, MBA, Australian Palliative Care Knowledge Network, Flinders University, 700 Goodwood Rd, Daw Park, South Australia 5041, Australia; e-mail: Jennifer.Tieman{at}flinders.edu.au

Purpose To objectively quantify the literature and the clinical trial basis for palliative and hospice practice given a perception that its evidence base is not well developed.

Methods Using Ovid Medline, the study looked at cumulative and absolute numbers of articles in the general medical literature and the palliative and hospice care literature. The same comparisons were made exploring clinical trials from 1902 to 2005. Data were collated in five year groups from 1970 onward using a highly specific search phrase.

Results The proportion of all Ovid Medline publications relating to palliative and hospice care rose from 0.08% in 1970 to 0.38% of the literature in 2005. In the same time, clinical trials increased from 0.96% to 7.22% of the palliative care literature published. By 2005, one in every 122 clinical trials published in the literature as a whole was in palliative or hospice care. The rate of growth in palliative care clinical trials as a proportion of all palliative and hospice publications was on average 1.4 times greater than in the corresponding general literature. More than one half of these studies were reported in just 43 journals, most of which were not specialist palliative and hospice care journals.

Discussion Given the diversity of journals in which clinical studies related to hospice and palliative care appear, there is a key challenge for clinicians in finding ways that will allow currency of practice in a broad and rapidly changing field.

published online ahead of print at www.jco.org on November 10, 2008

CareSearch palliative care knowledge network is a project funded by the Palliative Care Branch of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing as part of the National Palliative Care Program.

Authors’ disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and author contributions are found at the end of this article.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Tieman, R. Sladek, and D. Currow Multiple sources: mapping the literature of palliative care Palliative Medicine, July 1, 2009; 23(5): 425 - 431. [Abstract] [PDF]