{
  "abstract": "Introduction People living with systemic sclerosis (SSc) experience burdensome symptoms, reduced quality of life and shortened life expectancy. Few treatments have proven efficacy to alleviate symptoms or improve quality of life.Early palliative care is recommended standard of care for incurable cancer as it improves quality of life and reduces symptom burden. The need, role and efficacy of early palliative care in SSc is less clear.This study compares both symptom severity and need for specialist palliative care in SSc with incurable cancer, using the revised Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS-r).1 The ESAS-r is a validated instrument, widely used in cancer studies to measure nine symptoms across individual numerical rating scales (0-10).Material and Methods This prospective study invited all individuals attending the St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne SSc clinic to complete the ESAS-r questionnaire.The frequency of moderate-severe symptoms and the need for specialist palliative care in SSc was compared to that of incurable cancer, using published data from two prospective studies:Specialist palliative care needs defined as at least one moderate-severe symptom, where moderate-severe symptoms were defined as 4/10 or greater for pain, nausea, shortness of breath, depression, anxiety; 7/10 or greater for fatigue, appetite, drowsiness, wellbeing.2Specialist palliative care need defined as a total ESAS-r score 23 or higher.3Results Between 03/06/2024 and 20/02/2025, 165 questionnaires were received from 107 unique respondents. The median age was 62 yrs (IQR 16), 84% were female and 24% had diffuse SSc.Moderate-severe symptom burden was common and similar between SSc and incurable cancer (figure 1), except breathlessness was more prevalent in SSc (p=0.006). Patients with SSc most commonly reported moderate-severe pain 40% (43/107), shortness of breath 28% (30/107), anxiety 27% (29/107), depression 22% (24/107), and fatigue 21% (22/107).2The need for specialist palliative care was comparable to incurable cancer:1 or more moderate-severe symptom: SSc 61% (65/107) vs. cancer 60% (70/116)(p=1.0).2ESAS-r total 23 or higher: SSc 42% (45/107) vs. cancer 50% (229/461)(p=0.16).3Conclusions People with SSc experience a symptom burden and palliative care need equivalent to those with incurable malignancy. These findings highlight the need to define the role and evaluate the efficacy of early palliative care for this unique population.References Hui D, et al. JPSM 2017.Zimmermann C, et al. JNCCN 2021.Rodin R, et al. CM 2022.Abstract P.302 Figure 1ESAS-r prevalence of moderate-severe symptoms in systemic sclerosis vs incurable cancer",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Univeristy of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Julie Mcdonald"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Univeristy of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Laura Ross"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P.302 Comparing the symptom severity and specialist palliative care needs in systemic sclerosis with incurable cancer",
  "uid": "e4fc9f93-72dc-5e42-8c0a-e13eeef1322b"
}