Publications by authors named "Debra Castro"

Young adult (YA) aged cancer patients have unique psychosocial needs with studies indicating more symptoms and emotional distress compared to older patients. Our study aimed to compare clinical characteristics and symptom distress between YAs and older adults. We retrospectively studied 896 randomly selected patients across 3 age groups: 18-39 YAs ( = 297), 40-64 ( = 300), and 65 and older ( = 299).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

COVID-19 pandemic necessitated rapid adoption of telemedicine at our supportive care center (SCC) to ensure continuity of care while maintaining social distancing. To document the process of transition from in-person to virtual care. The charts of 1744 consecutive patients in our SCC located in the United States were retrospectively reviewed during the four weeks before transition (February 14-March 12), four weeks after transition (March 20-April 16), and transition week (March 13-March 19).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Integration of palliative care (PC) in oncology have been found to improve symptom distress, quality of life, and survival in patients with advanced cancer. Early integration is most appropriate in the outpatient setting. However, most PC services in the United States do not have an outpatient component.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF