Telehealth Palliative Care Benefits Varied Across Advanced Lung Cancer Subgroups

Researchers analyzed data from 1,250 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer enrolled at 22 cancer centers between June 2018 and May 2023 in a randomized trial of early palliative care delivered by video or in-person visits. The analysis assessed whether the effect of delivery mode on patient-reported quality of life at 24 weeks varied according to baseline sociodemographic and other factors. Quality of life was measured using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung scale.

Black and Hispanic/Latino patients, as well as patients with annual incomes below $50,000, reported better quality of life in the video-visit group than in the in-person group. In contrast, Asian patients in the video group reported worse quality of life than those receiving in-person visits. The abstract does not provide subgroup sizes, effect estimates, confidence intervals, or details of statistical significance.

The findings suggest that quality-of-life outcomes associated with video-based palliative care may differ across patient groups. The available abstract does not establish why these differences occurred or whether they should guide care decisions. The trial was registered as NCT03375489.