ArticleBMC family practice2012
Dying at home in Belgium: a descriptive GP interview study.
Article in BMC family practice, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comfort in palliative sedation (Compas): a transdisciplinary mixed method study protocol for linking objective assessments to subjective experiences.BMC palliative care · 2018Trial
- The ideal and the real: Patient and bereaved family caregiver perspectives on the significance of place of death.Death studies · 2024Article
- Provision of end-of-life care in primary care: a survey of issues and outcomes in the Australian context.BMJ open · 2022Article
- What, how and from whom do health care professionals learn during collaboration in palliative home care: a cross-sectional study in primary palliative care.BMC health services research · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhile increasing attention is being paid to enabling terminal patients to remain at home until death, limited information is available on the circumstances in which people at home actually die. Therefore this study aims to describe patient characteristics, functional and cognitive status and physical and psychological symptom burden in the last three months of life among Belgian patients dying at home, according to their GPs.
methodsIn 2005, a nationwide and retrospective interview study with GPs took place on people dying at home in Belgium as reported by Sentinel Network of GPs in Belgium. GPs registered all deaths (patients aged 1 year or more) weekly and were interviewed about all patients dying non-suddenly at home, using face-to-face structured interviews.
resultsInterviews were obtained on 205 patients (90% response rate). Between the second and third month before death, 55% were fully invalid or limited in self-care. In the last week of life, almost all were fully invalid. Fifty four percent were unconscious at some point during the last week; 46% were fully conscious. Most frequently reported symptoms were lack of energy, lack of appetite and feeling drowsy. Conditions most difficult for GPs to manage were shortness of breath, lack of energy and pain.
conclusionsMany people dying at home under the care of their GPs in Belgium function relatively well until the last week of life and cognitive status seems to be preserved until the end in many cases. However, symptoms which GPs find difficult to control still manifest in many patients in the final week of life.
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