Palliative care may offer a better quality of life to chronically sick or terminally ill patients even if it doesn't help them live longer, a research review suggests. "Our analyses suggest that patients who received palliative care had better quality of life and less severe symptoms than those patients who hadn't received palliative care," said lead study author Dio Kavalieratos of the University of Pittsburgh. "We also saw that those who received palliative care were generally more satisfied with their care and so were their caregivers." Palliative care was, however, consistently associated with improvements in advance care planning, patient and caregiver satisfaction and less healthcare use. "Too often palliative care is equated to 'hospice' or end of life care but palliative care is much more than that."

Source: Fox News November 22, 2016 19:53 UTC