Knowledge of Palliative Care Among American Adults: 2018 Health Information National Trends Survey

• Published in: Journal of pain and symptom management 2019-07, Vol.58 (1), p.39-47.e3
• Main Authors: Huo, Jinhai, Hong, Young-Rock, Grewal, Reetu, Yadav, Sandhya, Heller, Isaac W., Bian, Jiang, Wilkie, Diana J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cancer; Caregivers; Chi-square test; Demography; Female; Health information; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health status; HINTS; Hospice and Palliative Care Nursing; Hospice care; Humans; Knowledge; Male; Middle age; Middle Aged; misconception; Misconceptions; Neoplasms; Palliative Care; Polls & surveys; Quality of Life; Suffering; Surveys and Questionnaires; Trends; United States
• ISSN: 0885-3924; 1873-6513
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2019.03.014

Palliative care will play an important role to alleviate disease suffering and improve quality of life for cancer patients and their family caregivers. We examined the knowledge penetration of palliative care in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. We used the 2018 National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey to determine the proportion of respondents who had knowledge of palliative care as well as the depth and sources of their knowledge. We used the Pearson chi-square test and a multivariable logistic regression model to assess the association of respondents' basic demographic characteristics as well as health status and having knowledge of palliative care. We identified 3194 respondents (weighted sample size: 229,591,005) who met the inclusion criteria. About 71% (2097) of all respondents had no knowledge of palliative care and 84.5% of Hispanic respondents had no knowledge of palliative care. Multivariable analyses indicated the middle-aged (50–64 years old, odds ratio, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.15–2.19, P = 0.006) and elder population (65 years or older, odds ratio, 1.70, 95% CI, 1.30–2.22, P