The general prevalence of pain is similar to that reported by other. The prevalence of moderate to severe pain is also similar to that reported in other studies, although severe pain is somewhat lower than indicated in most reports. According to the PMI, pain control was acceptable to good.

Of the 21 Portuguese teams identified, 10 accepted to participate in the study. A total of 164 patients were included with a median of 15.5 per team (4-32). Of all the patients included, 60 (37%) were identified as inpatients in palliative care units; 59 (36%) by an intrahospital support team; 26 (16%) as outpatients; and 19 (12%) at home. The median age was 71 years (16-95). Fifty-one percent were females. The diagnosis was cancer in 151 (92%) patients. The most common cancer was colorectal in 22 (15%) patients, followed by gastric 17 (11%), head and neck 17 (11%), breast 15 (10%), and lung cancers 14 (9%). All patients were treated by doctors and nurses experienced in palliative care.

Introduction Continuous positive airway pressure is an effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome. However, positive airway pressure compliance rates are disappointingly low, so effective interventions are needed to improve compliance in sleep apnoea. Telemonitoring has been used to improve compliance, but results have been inconsistent. This study aimed to determine outcomes of telemonitoring positive airway pressure compliance and efficacy data compared to usual care and phone-call care. Methods Randomized controlled study in which 51 patients (82.4% male; between 25 and 78 years), diagnosed with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnoea were consecutively randomized to usual care, weekly phone-call care or telemonitored care with the use of Restraxx™. All patients were submitted to a comprehensive educational programme during positive airway pressure adaptation. Patients were followed for the first four weeks of treatment with automatic positive airway pressure (AutoSet Spirit S8®; ResMed), and compliance and efficacy data were analyzed. Results Telemonitored care group used automatic positive airway pressure an average of 5.0 ± 1.8 hours/night, usual care patients 5.1 ± 2.5 hours and phone-call care patients 3.9 ± 2.6 hours. The residual Apnoea--Hypopnoea Index was 5.3 ± 3.0 in telemonitored care, 5.0 ± 2.5 in usual care and 5.6 ± 3.8 in phone-call care. No statistically significant differences were found between groups regarding positive airway pressure compliance or efficacy ( p = 0.296 and p = 0.825, respectively). Discussion In the presence of a comprehensive educational programme during positive airway pressure adaptation, telemonitoring patients did not show benefits concerning compliance and efficacy. A larger follow-up period is needed to evaluate the long-term results of a telemonitoring programme.

The practice of palliative care in Portugal seems to be similar to those in other countries.

No abstract