Impact of Early Referral to Palliative Care in Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease

Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) have a major impact on survival and quality of life but only a small percentage of patients are referred for palliative care (PC). To assess the impact of early PC referral on hospital admissions, emergency department visits, and place of death in the last year of life. This is a single-center retrospective observational study. Subjects were patients with ILDs who attended the respiratory department of Hospital Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Barcelona, Spain) between 2011 and 2019. Of the 51 included patients, 45% received early PC referral. Logistic regression indicated that early PC referral was independently associated with a lower risk of hospital admissions in the last year of life (OR = 0.16; 95% CI 0.03-0.75;  = 0.02) and a lower risk of dying in hospital (OR = 0.11; 95% CI 0.02-0.5;  = 0.009). Early PC referral reduces the need for hospitalization and enables domiciliary death.