Current State of Palliative Care in Iran and Related Issues: A NarrativeReview

Palliative research studies seem to be limited and disperse in Iran. The present studywas therefore conducted to review and categorize the Palliative Care (PC) studies performed inIran in terms of the research type, the type/focus of PC, the measured outcomes in interventionalpalliative studies and their related results, the disease type, and their geographical distribution.

This narrative review was conducted in 2021 in which both Iranian andinternational databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of science, CINAHL, ProQuest, Magiran,SID, Noormags, ISC were searched. The inclusion criteria were original articles conducted inIran and results published in Persian or English journals ab initio in which PC was assessed as avariable (dependent or independent) or the main concept.

A total of 1096 articles wereidentified from which only 44 articles were reviewed. The research studies were mainly focused oncancer and majority conducted in Tehran. Majority of studies were quantitative‑interventional leadingto a variety of positive changes in dependent variables, including reduce in pain severity, changein life pattern, a good response to therapy, increase life expectancy, improve in dysphagia, improvequality of life, reduce patients’ metastasis, and increase in nurses’self‑efficacy.

The PCstudies distributed across different fields and cities in Iran resulted to a number of positive outcomesfor patients. More focused and robust research studies with different patients need to be conducted inthis emerging field in Iran.