SynthesisJournal of pain and symptom management2014
Concepts and definitions for "actively dying," "end of life," "terminally ill," "terminal care," and "transition of care": a systematic review.
Synthesis in Journal of pain and symptom management, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 153 papers, 9 of them syntheses 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
153 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pharmacological Management of Anxiety in End-of-Life Care: A Systematic Review of Benzodiazepines, Opioids, and Psilocybin.Human psychopharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Caregivers' Perceptions of End-of-Life Care in Brazil: A Qualitative Systematic Review.Revista brasileira de enfermagem · 2026Pooled it
- Assisted death in eating disorders: a systematic review of cases and clinical rationales.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Psychiatric Comorbidities and Outcomes in Palliative and End-of-Life Care: A Systematic Review.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2023Pooled it
- The impact of facility-based transitional care programs on function and discharge destination for older adults with cognitive impairment: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2022Pooled it
- Pediatric palliative care and end-of-life: a systematic review of economic health analyses.Revista paulista de pediatria : orgao oficial da Sociedade de Pediatria de Sao Paulo · 2022Pooled it
- Care of the adult cancer patient at the end of life: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines.ESMO open · 2021Guideline
- Use and Meaning of "Goals of Care" in the Healthcare Literature: a Systematic Review and Qualitative Discourse Analysis.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Perspectives of elders and their adult children of Black and minority ethnic heritage on end-of-life conversations: A meta-ethnography.Palliative medicine · 2020Pooled it
- The effect of end-of-life care awareness education on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of intensive care nurses: A randomized controlled trial.Nursing in critical care · 2025Trial
- "Song of Life": Results of a multicenter randomized trial on the effects of biographical music therapy in palliative care.Palliative medicine · 2021Trial
- Intervention to improve care at life's end in inpatient settings: the BEACON trial.Journal of general internal medicine · 2014Trial
- Telling is Caring: Prioritizing the Best Interests of Dying Children.HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues · 2026Article
- Blood Transfusion in End-of-Life Cancer Care: Clinical Evidence, Patient Blood Management and Goal-Concordant Practice.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- What Drives Public Preference for Rare Drugs Coverage in China? Insights From a Multi-Center Discrete Choice Experiment.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- End-of-life prognostic models in advanced cancer: a scoping review of model development, validation, and impact.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- Evaluating the quality, reliability and readability of digital and artificial intelligence resources for adults with cancer who have significant caregiving responsibilities for children.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Decisional Conflict in Palliative Head and Neck Cancer Patients.Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery · 2026Article
- Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Last Days of Life: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Nurse Practitioners' Experiences Navigating Treatment Decision-Making Affecting Older People with Neurocognitive Disorders and Cancer.The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmieres · 2026Article
93 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
contextThe terms "actively dying," "end of life," "terminally ill," "terminal care," and "transition of care" are commonly used but rarely and inconsistently defined.
objectivesWe conducted a systematic review to examine the concepts and definitions for these terms.
methodsWe searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, and CINAHL for published peer-reviewed articles from 1948 to 2012 that conceptualized, defined, or examined these terms. Two researchers independently reviewed each citation for inclusion and then extracted the concepts/definitions when available. We also searched 10 dictionaries, four palliative care textbooks, and 13 organization Web sites, including the U.S. Federal Code.
resultsOne of 16, three of 134, three of 44, two of 93, and four of 17 articles defined or conceptualized actively dying, end of life, terminally ill, terminal care, and transition of care, respectively. Actively dying was defined as "hours or days of survival." We identified two key defining features for end of life, terminally ill, and terminal care: life-limiting disease with irreversible decline and expected survival in terms of months or less. Transition of care was discussed in relation to changes in 1) place of care (e.g., hospital to home), 2) level of professions providing the care (e.g., acute care to hospice), and 3) goals of care (e.g., curative to palliative). Definitions for these five terms were rarely found in dictionaries, textbooks, and organizational Web sites. However, when available, the definitions were generally consistent with the concepts discussed previously.
conclusionWe identified unifying concepts for five commonly used terms in palliative care and developed a preliminary conceptual framework toward building standardized definitions.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.