Table 1.
Characteristics of the Trials on General/Specialist Palliative Care (Clinical Questions 1 and 2) and of Trial Participants
| Study |
|
|
|
|
MS patients (%) |
Carers (%) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intervention | Country (name) | No. of centres | Length (weeks) | Risk of bias (low/high) | No. | Age3 | Women | EDSSb | No. | Agea | Women | Relation |
| Specialist PC home-based | UK - | 1 | 12 | Selection (low)c Selection (low)d Performance (high) Detection (high) Attrition (low) Reporting (low) Other (low) | 52 | 53.0 (33–75) | 36 (69) | 7.5 (5.5–9.5) | 43 | - | - | Partner/spouse 29 (67) Son/daughter 7 (16) Parent 4 (10) Other relative 3 ( 7) Paid carer 0(0) |
| Specialist PC home-based | Italy (NE-PAL) | 1 | 16 | Selection (low)c Selection (low)d Performance (high) Detection (high) Attrition (low) Reporting (low) Other (low) | 18 | 54.2 (40–71) | 10 (56) | 8.5 7.0–9.5) | 18 | - | 14 (78) | Partner/spouse 11 (61) Son/daughter 1 ( 5) Parent 2 (10) Other relative 1 ( 5) Paid carer 3 (17) |
| General PC home-based | Italy (PeNSAMI) | 3 | 24 | Selection (low)c Selection (low)d Performance (high) Detection (low) Attrition (low) Reporting (low) Other (low) | 76 | 59.2 (41–80) | 43 (57) | 8.5 (8.0–9.5) | 76 | 60.3 (23–84) | 47 (62) | Partner/spouse 40 (53) Son/daughter 8(11) Parent 12 (16) Other relative 13 (17) Paid carer 3(4) |
EDSS, Expanded Disability Status Scale; MS, multiple sclerosis; PC, palliative care. aMean (range). bMedian (range). cRandom sequence generation. dAllocation concealment.