Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24152481›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2013

Palliative sedation in Dutch general practice from 2005 to 2011: a dynamic cohort study of trends and reasons.

Gé A Donker, Frank G Slotman, Peter Spreeuwenberg, Anneke L Francke

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Never the right time: advance care planning with frail and older people.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2013
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Gé A DonkerNIVEL, Netherlands Institute of Health Services Research, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Frank G Slotman
Peter Spreeuwenberg
Anneke L Francke

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLittle is known about the quantity and reasons for use of palliative sedation in general practice.

aimTo gain more insight into the trends of and reasons for palliative sedation in Dutch general practice. DESIGN AND

settingDynamic cohort study using registrations and questionnaire data of Dutch GPs. Method Data collected in the years from 2005 until 2011 in the Dutch Sentinel General Practice Network were analysed. Trends and reasons for use of palliative sedation were analysed using multilevel analyses to control for clustering of observations within general practices.

resultsFrom 2005-2011, 183 cases were reported from 56 general practices. The incidence of palliative sedation fluctuated between 33.7 per 100 000 patients in 2006 and 15.2 in 2011. No rise or decline during the period was observed. Palliative sedation was applied in 5.7% of all deaths and most frequently used in younger patients with cancer. The mean number of refractory symptoms was 2.6 (SD 1.2); pain (69.4%), dyspnoea (53.0%), and fear (39.3%). Patient involvement in decision making before the start of palliative sedation (87.4%) was less frequently present in patients suffering from cardiovascular or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and in older patients compared to patients with cancer (P<0.05). Pending euthanasia requests were present in 20.8% of cases; the choice for palliative sedation in these cases was clearly motivated.

conclusionPalliative sedation is performed in a small proportion of dying patients in Dutch general practice, without a rise or decline observed from 2005 to 2011. Patients with non-cancer diseases are less frequently involved in decision making than patients with cancer, possibly related to sudden deterioration.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overChronic DiseaseCohort StudiesEuthanasia, Active, VoluntaryFemaleGeneral PracticeHumansHypnotics and SedativesIntractable PainMaleMiddle AgedNetherlandsPalliative CarePatient ParticipationHypnotics and Sedatives

Identifiers

PMID24152481
PMCPMC3782799

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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.