Pharmacotherapy considerations in Palliative Care – A Review

Abstract

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, are the leading cause of mortality in the world. According to world health organization, In India The probability of dying between ages 30 and 70 years from the 4 main Non-Communicable Diseases (Cancers, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases, Chronic Respiratory Diseases) is 26 %   in the year  2014 ^[1].

The WHO defined palliative care as “an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial, and spiritual^[2]. It has been considered both a general approach to patient care and a practice specialty. A palliative care approach can be applied at any point during the course of illness and should not be confused with hospice care, which incorporates the philosophies of palliative care, but is typically provided to patients with life expectancies of 6 months or less. The purpose of this review article is to focus on pharmacotherapy decisions of chronically ill patients during the later part of life and pharmacists responsibilities in hospice and palliative care.