NCT07387224Active, not recruiting
Identification of Patients With Advanced Chronic Diseases in Need of Palliative Care
Study to Identify Patients With Advanced Chronic Conditions in Need of Palliative Care: Validation of the NECPAL Instrument.
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 10 Jun 2026
Brief summary (registry, in English)
Patients with advanced chronic diseases often have complex health needs and may benefit from palliative care. However, many of these patients are not identified early enough to receive appropriate palliative care interventions. This prospective observational study aims to identify hospitalized patients and patients attending a day hospital with advanced chronic conditions who have palliative care needs, using the NECPAL tool. NECPAL is a validated screening instrument designed to identify patients with advanced chronic diseases who may benefit from palliative care, based on clinical indicators, disease progression, functional decline, and health care utilization. Adult patients with advanced oncological and non-oncological chronic diseases will be consecutively evaluated. The NECPAL tool will be applied by trained investigators as part of routine clinical assessment. Patients will be classified as NECPAL positive or NECPAL negative according to predefined criteria. The study will estimate the proportion of patients identified as NECPAL positive, describe their clinical characteristics, and analyze whether they are receiving palliative care. Secondary objectives include comparing clinical variables, comorbidity indices, and mortality between NECPAL-positive and NECPAL-negative patients over follow-up. The results of this study will provide information on the prevalence of palliative care needs among patients with advanced chronic diseases and support early identification strategies in hospital settings.
- Status (registry)
- Active, not recruiting
- Study type
- Observational
- Enrollment
- 200 (actual)
- First submitted
- 28 Jan 2026
- Start date
- 1 Feb 2024
- Primary completion date
- 1 Feb 2028
- Lead sponsor
- Infanta Leonor University Hospital
- Diseases
- Chronic kidney disease, Heart failure
- NCT number
- NCT07387224
What you commit to
- Study type: Observational
- Participants enrolled: 200
- From 1 Feb 2024 to the primary completion date, 1 Feb 2028
- 1 site in 1 country
- Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them
Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.
Who cannot take part
Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.
Prior treatment
- Patients previously included in the study during a prior hospital admission.
Other illness
- Patients with end-stage organ failure who are listed for organ transplantation.
- Patients with severe psychiatric disease that interferes with study participation.
Other
- Patients in the last days of life at the time of assessment.
- Patients who die during the acute hospitalization process.
- Patients for whom outpatient follow-up cannot be ensured.
Who the study is looking for
- Adults aged 18 years or older.
- Hospitalized patients admitted for an acute medical condition or patients attending a day hospital.
- Presence of at least one advanced chronic oncological or non-oncological disease.
- Ability to provide informed consent or availability of a legally authorized representative to provide consent.
Age in the registry: 18 years to - · Sex: All · Does not accept healthy volunteers
Sites (1)
Sites in registry order. Pick your city on the disease page to sort them by distance.
| Site | City | Country | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status | Madrid | Spain | Unknown status |
This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.