Introduction
cancer, death, COPD, deaths
COPD, SECONDARY, CANCER, CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) causes considerable morbidity and is the third leading cause of death worldwide.In patients with cancer, quality of life can be improved and healthcare use reduced by timely initiation of palliative care.In a recent systematic review, only 4 out of 20 palliative care interventions in COPD had been evaluated in a powered controlled trial, and the effects on health outcomes remained inconclusive.Therefore, in the COMPASSION study, in half of the participating hospital regions, primary and secondary healthcare providers were trained to integrate palliative care components into routine COPD care. We assessed the effect on quality of life, emotional and spiritual well-being, acute healthcare use and place of death of patients with COPD. We hypothesized that intervention group patients would score better on quality of life and well-being, use less acute healthcare, and have a lower rate of in-hospital deaths than patients of hospitals in the control group.