Pharmacotherapy has a strategic role in palliative care (PC). Medications are prescribed in this context for various reasons, leading to polypharmacy, associated with several negative outcomes. Despite its clinical relevance, the scientific literature about pharmacological interventions in PC remains scarce and fragmented. This review aimed to explore and map the pharmacological interventions in PC.
A bibliometric review was conducted using combined data from Scopus and Web of Science. Inclusion criteria covered original articles and reviews, published between 2014 and 2024, that had terms related to PC present in the title and terms related to the use of medications present in the title, abstract or keywords. RStudio and VOSviewer were used to analyse data, focusing on publication trends, authorship, keywords and thematic evolution.
A total of 2245 publications were included, mainly original articles (80%), although only 10% were clinical trials. Highest annual production was found in 2024, concentrating mainly in high-income countries. The term “symptom management” appears as a central term in keyword analysis; it also appears, along with “deprescribing” and “polypharmacy”, in trending topics evolution, growing in 2019. Data indicate that pharmacotherapy is not yet a consolidated theme itself, being addressed mainly in more general references.
Fragmentation hinders the advancement of key issues such as the identification and management of potentially inappropriate medications, therapeutic rationalisation at the end of life and the pharmacoeconomic impact of these prescriptions and interventions. The field of palliative pharmacotherapy should be considered as a possibility for future literature development.