Multidisciplinary palliative care offers clear benefits to patients with cardiovascular disease.
According to the American Heart Association’s (AHA) scientific statement, “Palliative Pharmacotherapy for Cardiovascular Disease,” palliative care with effective medication management, shared decision-making, and symptom management can help improve the quality of life for people with heart disease.
“The complexity of medication management for cardiac patients calls for a team-based approach,” Katherine E. Di Palo, senior director of transitional care excellence at Montefiore Medical Center, said in a press release. “Providing effective, patient-centered care requires collaboration among multidisciplinary clinicians across primary care, cardiology and palliative care.”
Di Palo is an assistant professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and chair of the AHA’s Scientific Statement Writing Group.
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. In 2020, heart disease claimed the lives of approximately 929,000 Americans. By 2030, associated costs are expected to reach $1.8 trillion, according to the CDC.
“Cardiovascular disease” includes a wide range of conditions, including coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and heart failure.
According to the AHA’s scientific statement, interdisciplinary palliative care can help patients with these conditions by relieving physical symptoms, managing emotional distress, and assisting patients with medical decisions and goal setting.
Involving palliative care clinicians in managing medications for cardiac patients is beneficial for patients, but these services are often underutilized, the statement noted.
“Although medical, surgical, and device therapies can certainly extend life, disease progression from chronic to advanced to terminal stages is unpredictable and uncertain in time and is characterized by worsening symptoms, resulting in repeated hospitalizations and overutilization of health care services,” the authors of the AHA statement wrote. “Compared to other serious illnesses, medical management incorporating a palliative approach is underutilized among patients with cardiovascular disease.”