Rheumatology and palliative care: needs and opportunities

Abstract

Palliative care (PC) has expanded to medical conditions beyond its conventional scope of terminal malignancy and end-stage organ failure. This editorial showed our opinion in care model for the integration of PC into rheumatology and the growing needs of both rheumatology and PC services in view of increasing comorbidities and novel therapies. We anticipate an escalating demand for PC in this special group of patients who have concomitant long-standing systemic rheumatic diseases and age-related comorbidities. In addition, patients with advanced malignancy who develop rheumatological problems and require PC is also an emerging area of service need.