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Background: A high-quality symptom assessment is crucial to providing patient-centered palliative care resulting in positive outcomes for patients and their families.Objective: To study the symptom burden in elderly male patients receiving palliative care at the geriatric palliative care unit; from the patient's, caregiver's, and physician's perspective. Subjects and Methods: This cross-sectional study included hundred (100) elderly male patients admitted to palliative care unit (due to cancer and non-cancer conditions) and fulfilling the recruitment criteria. They were subjected to comprehensive geriatric assessment and detailed symptom inquiry utilizing the abbreviated version of Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS-SF). The study illustrates the most distressing symptoms affecting quality of life from the caregiver and the attending physician perspective.Results: The most prevalent symptoms were lack of appetite, lack of energy, cough, difficulty sleeping and pain . The participants had a mean total MSAS score of 0.543. Participants reported an average of 8 symptoms. From caregivers perspective, the most distressing symptoms were shortness of breath, pain and decreased oral intake. From attending physicians perspective, the most distressing symptoms were shortness of breath, pain and decrease oral intake. Patients with Mesothelioma had the highest numbers of symptoms.Conclusion: Elderly male patients admitted to geriatric palliative care unit experience significant symptom burden. Supportive care for patients in palliative care settings should be personalized, taking into consideration that specific patient groups that may require more extensive symptom management.Keywords: Elderly, palliative care, cancer, memorial symptom assessment scale.
Elsawy et al. (Fri,) studied this question.