ArticleBMC palliative care2003
Sedation in palliative care - a critical analysis of 7 years experience.
Article in BMC palliative care, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 153 citations in OpenAlex.
- Palliative pharmacological sedation for terminally ill adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Continuous sedation in adolescent and young adult cancer patients under home-based end-of-life care.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Observational
- Clinical profile and challenges of midazolam-based palliative sedation for terminal cancer patients: A retrospective observational study from a tertiary medical center in mainland China.Palliative care and social practice · 2026Article
- Survival Outcomes in Palliative Sedation Based on Referring Versus On-Call Physician Prescription.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Impact of legalization of Medical Assistance in Dying on the Use of Palliative Sedation in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Retrospective Chart Review.The American journal of hospice & palliative care · 2022Article
- Propofol-based palliative sedation in terminally ill children with solid tumors: A case series.Medicine · 2019Article
- Palliative sedation in advanced cancer patients hospitalized in a specialized palliative care unit.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2018Article
- Palliative sedation in Germany: factors and treatment practices associated with different sedation rate estimates in palliative and hospice care services.BMC palliative care · 2018Article
- Sedation at the end of life - a nation-wide study in palliative care units in Austria.BMC palliative care · 2016Article
- Walking the line. Palliative sedation for existential distress: still a controversial issue?Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2015Article
- Making sense of continuous sedation in end-of-life care for cancer patients: an interview study with bereaved relatives in three European countries.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2014Article
- The EAPC framework on palliative sedation and clinical practice--a questionnaire-based survey in Germany.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2014Article
- Current debates on end-of-life sedation: an international expert elicitation study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2014Article
- [Palliative sedation for psycho-existential suffering].Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2014Article
- Palliative Sedation in Advanced Cancer Patients: Does it Shorten Survival Time? - A Systematic Review.Indian journal of palliative care · 2013Article
- Dying of hematologic patients--treatment characteristics in a German University Hospital.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2012Article
- Pressure during decision making of continuous sedation in end-of-life situations in Dutch general practice.BMC family practice · 2012Article
- Palliative sedation at the end of life at a tertiary cancer center.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2012Article
- The Attitudes of Indian Palliative-care Nurses and Physicians to Pain Control and Palliative Sedation.Indian journal of palliative care · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe administration of sedatives in terminally ill patients becomes an increasingly feasible medical option in end-of-life care. However, sedation for intractable distress has raised considerable medical and ethical concerns. In our study we provide a critical analysis of seven years experience with the application of sedation in the final phase of life in our palliative care unit.
methodsMedical records of 548 patients, who died in the Palliative Care Unit of GK Havelhoehe between 1995-2002, were retrospectively analysed with regard to sedation in the last 48 hrs of life. The parameters of investigation included indication, choice and kind of sedation, prevalence of intolerable symptoms, patients' requests for sedation, state of consciousness and communication abilities during sedation. Critical evaluation included a comparison of the period between 1995-1999 and 2000-2002.
results14.6% (n = 80) of the patients in palliative care had sedation given by the intravenous route in the last 48 hrs of their life according to internal guidelines. The annual frequency to apply sedation increased continuously from 7% in 1995 to 19% in 2002. Main indications shifted from refractory control of physical symptoms (dyspnoea, gastrointestinal, pain, bleeding and agitated delirium) to more psychological distress (panic-stricken fear, severe depression, refractory insomnia and other forms of affective decompensation). Patients' and relatives' requests for sedation in the final phase were significantly more frequent during the period 2000-2002.
conclusionSedation in the terminal or final phase of life plays an increasing role in the management of intractable physical and psychological distress. Ethical concerns are raised by patients' requests and needs on the one hand, and the physicians' self-understanding on the other hand. Hence, ethically acceptable criteria and guidelines for the decision making are needed with special regard to the nature of refractory and intolerable symptoms, patients' informed consent and personal needs, the goals and aims of medical sedation in end-of-life care.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.