Association of Functional Status and Symptom Severity Among Patients Who Received Palliative Care Consultations
An article published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine explores the relationship between functional status and the severity of symptoms in people living with serious illnesses. By evaluating the data of hospitalized patients who received palliative care, the authors noticed two distinct groups of symptoms: nausea, physical discomfort, anxiety, depression, and constipation (more severe for patients with higher functional status); and drowsiness, inactive, dyspnea, anorexia, and agitation (more severe for patients with lower functional status). In addition to the different symptoms, researchers found that people with lower functional status had a higher symptom burden.