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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Crit Care Med. Dec 9, 2025; 14(4): 110597
Published online Dec 9, 2025. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v14.i4.110597
Published online Dec 9, 2025. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v14.i4.110597
Palliative care in pulmonary hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Wajid Ali, Department of Medicine, Harlem Hospital Center, New York, NY 10037, United States
Asad Ur Rab, Department of Medicine, Foundation University Medical College, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Asim Shaikh, Department of Research, Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Gokhan Anil, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mayo Clinic Health System, Mankato, MN 56001, United States
Salim Surani, Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States
Munish Sharma, Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Baylor Scott and White, Temple, TX 76508, United States
Author contributions: Ali W, Rab AU, Shaikh A, Surani S, and Shrama M contribute to manuscript writing and revision; Ali W, Rab AU, and Shaikh A contribute to data collection, analysis; Anil G, Surani S, and Shrama M contribute to editing and supervision; Surani S and Shrama M contribute to conceptualization.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Salim Surani, FACP, FCCP, Professor, Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, 40 Bizzell Street, College Station, TX 77843, United States. srsurani@hotmail.com
Received: June 11, 2025
Revised: July 23, 2025
Accepted: October 21, 2025
Published online: December 9, 2025
Processing time: 172 Days and 0.9 Hours
Revised: July 23, 2025
Accepted: October 21, 2025
Published online: December 9, 2025
Processing time: 172 Days and 0.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: There are significant patient and physician-level barriers hindering the uptake of palliative care in pulmonary arterial hypertension, including feelings of hopelessness, depression, sadness, lack of funding, and lack of knowledge. These psychological and systemic challenges collectively limit timely referral and integration of palliative services within routine pulmonary arterial hypertension management. A meta-analysis of four studies reveals no statistically significant difference in mortality with palliative care (Log odds ratio = 0.89, 95% confidence intervals: -3.06-1.28).