• Helen Alemu, Ashley Pope, Samantha Lo, Nicolas Chin-Yee, Katayoun Khorramak, Criselda Isabel Cenizal, Lisa W Le, Dior Caruso, Christine Chen, John Kuruvilla, Camilla Zimmermann, and Breffni Hannon.
• Department of Supportive Care (H.A., A.P., S.L., N.C.Y., K.K., C.I.C., C.Z., B.H.), Princess Margaret Cancer Center, Toronto, Canada.
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2025 Jan 17.

ContextHematological malignancies represent a heterogeneous group of diseases with variable and often unpredictable illness trajectories. Comparisons between hematological and solid tumor malignancy referrals to an outpatient palliative care clinic have not been explored.ObjectivesThis study compared characteristics, referral trends, and time from first palliative care clinic visit to death between patients with hematological and solid tumor malignancies.MethodsA retrospective review of palliative care clinic referrals at a tertiary cancer center from January 1st, 2018 to December 31st, 2022 was conducted. Clinical and demographic data, symptom burden, performance status, and time from first palliative care clinic visit to death were compared.ResultsOf 5230 outpatients, 283 (5.4%) had a hematological malignancy (107 [38%] leukemia, 98 [35%] lymphoma, and 78 [28%] multiple myeloma). Patients with leukemia and lymphoma had similar symptom burden to solid tumor malignancies; patients with multiple myeloma had significantly more pain (P < 0.0001) and constipation (P = 0.005). Patients with hematological malignancies had worse performance status compared with solid tumor malignancies (ECOG ≥3 for 37.9% leukemia, 35.0% lymphoma, and 31.6% multiple myeloma vs. 19.6% solid tumor malignancies, P < 0.0001). At 12-months from first palliative care clinic visit, survival probabilities were 27.6% for leukemia, 42.2% lymphoma, and 69.5% multiple myeloma vs. 39.5% solid tumor malignancies.ConclusionPatients with hematological malignancies experience at least similar symptom burden to those with solid tumor malignancies referred to a palliative care clinic, and worse performance status, factors that should be considered when designing palliative care clinic interventions for patients with hematological malignancies.Copyright © 2025 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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