Palliative Care for the Late-Stage Cancer Patient During the COVID-19 Era: A Report of the Challenges

Objective: To report the main factors of oncological palliative care in the late-stage cancer patient affected during the pandemic of COVID-19, as recognized by the international medical community. Methods:We followed the PRISMA guidelines and searched on the electronic database PubMed using the search terms: palliative care, neoplasms, cancer, pandemic, and quality of life.We excluded articles of recommendations and guidelines, opinion articles, conference abstracts, or articles published before March 11 th , 2020, the official WHO date of the COVID-19 pandemic.Results: Seven studies satisfied the inclusion criteria of 1,400.Those research articles are from Norway, UK, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Africa, India, The Netherlands, Germany, and Turkey.Three studies were cross-sectional surveys, one was observational retrospective, two were observational prospective, and one was a longitudinal cohort observational study.Factors identified by the international medical community are the overall quality of oncological palliative care services, emotional dysfunction, and mental disorders. Conclusion:The standard palliative care for late-stage cancer patients has been affected in distinct countries.Changes in policies and guidelines, and the scarcity of resources in the health sector, have reduced the medical attention provided for the cancer patient receiving palliative care.More studies are required to identify additional needs of late-stage cancer patients during the current health crisis.