Psychosocial Well-Being of Siblings of Pediatric Patients in Palliative Home Care

CONTEXT

Despite the proposed high burden of siblings of children and adolescents with life-limiting conditions receiving pediatric palliative care (PPC) at home, little is known about their psychosocial well-being.

METHODS

In this prospective, cross-sectional trial siblings of patients of a large pediatric palliative home care team were asked to answer the KINDL survey of health-related quality of life, the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) to assess problems and resources of children and adolescents as well as the LARES questionnaire, a potential tool for early screening of distress in siblings of chronically ill children. The results of the KINDL total and subdomains as well of the SDQ-subdomains were compared to recent German normative data using multiple t-tests.

RESULTS

In total, 44 siblings (28 female; age 7-18 years, mean 11.8 ± 3.03) of 29 families participated in this study. The subgroup which matches the age range of current normative data of 11-17 years old siblings (n = 25) reported a significant lower total quality of life as measured by KINDL in comparison to normative data. Subscale analyses revealed a significant lower physical and psychological well-being and self-esteem. Siblings of PPC patients yielded significant higher scores in the subdomain prosocial behavior compared to normative data as measured by the SDQ.

CONCLUSIONS

Siblings of children receiving PPC in a home care setting are at risk for a relevant impairment of their health-related quality of life. Future studies should address the potential for possible interventions specific for this population-at-risk.

Advance care planning and the parental geographical background in pediatric palliative home care: a retrospective chart review

The relevance to acknowledge the parental migration history in pediatric palliative care is widely recognized. However, its influence on integral parts of advance care planning (ACP) is unknown. In this non-interventional cohort study, we aimed at identifying systematic differences between pediatric palliative patients with varying parental countries of origin regarding medical orders for life-sustaining treatment and the location of patients' death. Two hundred eighty-eight pediatric cases in an ambulant pediatric palliative care setting in Germany were retrospectively analyzed using multinomial logistic regression models. Agreements on medical orders for life-sustaining treatment (MOLST) differed significantly between patients with varying parental countries of origin. Full code orders for life-sustaining treatment were made more often in Turkish families than in German families. There were no significant associations between the patients' location of death and the parental countries of origin. However, confounder-analysis revealed a strong association between the patients' underlying disease and the orders for life-sustaining treatment as well as the location of death.Conclusions: Even this study indicates that the parental geographical background as an important sociocultural aspect might have an impact on ACP decisions for children and adolescents with life-limiting conditions, other factors as the patients' underlying disease can be more crucial for decision making in pediatric palliative care. The reason for the differences found might lay in cultural preferences or barriers to appropriate care. The inclusion of sociocultural aspects in decision-making is crucial to guarantee culture-sensitive, patient-centered pediatric palliative care.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in pediatric patients under palliative home care - A multicenter retrospective study

Introduction: Patients under palliative home care have special needs for their end-of-life support, which in general does not automatically include cardiopulmonary resuscitation. However, emergency medical services (EMS) respond to emergencies in children under palliative care that lead to cardiopulmonary resuscitation. To understand the underlying steps of decision-making, this retrospective, cross-sectional, multicenter study aimed to analyze pediatric patients under palliative home care who had been resuscitated. Methods: This study included patients from three spezialized pediatric palliative home care (SHPC) teams. The primary study parameters were the prevalence of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the decision-making for carrying out pediatric advanced life support (PALS). Further analyses included the causes of cardiac arrest, the type of CPR (basic life support, advanced life support), the patient´s outcome, and involvement of the SHPC in the resuscitation. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. Results: In total, 880 pediatric patients under palliative home care were included over 8.5 years, of which 17 patients were resuscitated once and two patients twice (overall, 19 events with CPR, 21.6 per 1,000 cases). In 10 of the 19 incidents (52.6%), cardiac arrest occurred suddenly without being predictable. The causes of cardiac arrest varied widely. PALS was performed in 78.9% of the cases by EMS teams. In 12 of 19 events (63.2%) resuscitation was performed on explicit wish of the parents. However, from a medical point of view, only four resuscitation attempts were reasonable. In total 7 of 17 (41.2%) patients survived cardiac arrest with a comparable quality of life. Discussion: Overall, resuscitation attempts were rare events in children under home palliative therapy, but if they occur, EMS are often the primary caregivers. Most resuscitation attempts occurred on explicit wish of the parents independently of the meaningfulness of the medical procedure. Despite the presence of a life-limiting disease, survival with a similar quality was achieved in one third of all resuscitated patients. This study indicates that EMS should be trained for advanced life support in children under home palliative therapy and SHPC should address the scenario of cardiac arrest also in early stages of palliative treatment. These results underline that advance care planning for these children is urgently needed.