ArticleBMC palliative care2016
Sedation at the end of life - a nation-wide study in palliative care units in Austria.
Article in BMC palliative care, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Duration of palliative care before death in international routine practice: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medicine · 2020Pooled it
- What do you mean by "palliative sedation"? : Pre-explicative analyses as preliminary steps towards better definitions.BMC palliative care · 2020Pooled it
- [Austrian guideline for palliative sedation therapy (long version) : Results of a Delphi process of the Austrian Palliative Society (OPG)].Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2017Guideline
- 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
- Refractory symptoms and end of life midazolam use in cancer patients, a single center experience.Palliative & supportive care · 2025Article
- Variability of sedation practices in palliative care unit in France: a six units retrospective analysis.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Evaluating physicians' knowledge of assisted suicide and palliative sedation therapy in Austria : An exploratory survey study.Wiener klinische Wochenschrift · 2025Article
- Frequency and predictors of palliative sedation among patients with cancer who died in a specialist inpatient palliative care unit: a retrospective study.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- Use of sedative drugs in specialist palliative care (iSedPall): a multi-modal intervention pilot study protocol.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
- Article
- Continuous Sedation in Palliative Care in Portugal: A Prospective Multicentric Study.Journal of palliative care · 2025Article
- Dexmedetomidine Combined With Patient-Controlled Analgesia for Palliative Sedation in Terminal-Stage Cancer Patients With Refractory Pain: A Retrospective Analysis of Nine Cases.Pain research & management · 2024Article
- Continuous deep sedation at the end of life: a qualitative interview-study among health care providers on an evolving practice.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- Survival Outcomes in Palliative Sedation Based on Referring Versus On-Call Physician Prescription.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Sedation in Palliative Care—a Clinically Oriented Overview of Guidelines and Treatment RecommendationsDeutsches Arzteblatt international · 2023Article
- Article
- Current Status and Future Directions of Research on Palliative Sedation.Journal of hospice and palliative care · 2022Article
- Palliative Sedation in End-of-Life Patients in Eastern Asia: A Narrative Review.Cancer research and treatment · 2022Review
- The quality of palliative sedation in end-stage disease: audit from a department of oncology and haematology.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022Article
- Intentional Sedation as a Means to Ease Suffering: A Systematically Constructed Terminology for Sedation in Palliative Care.Journal of palliative medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSedation is used to an increasing extent in end-of-life care. Definitions and indications in this field are based on expert opinions and case series. Little is known about this practice at palliative care units in Austria.
methodsPatients who died in Austrian palliative care units between June 2012 and June 2013 were identified. A predefined set of baseline characteristics and information on sedation during the last two weeks before death were obtained by reviewing the patients' charts.
resultsThe data of 2414 patients from 23 palliative care units were available for analysis. Five hundred two (21 %) patients received sedation in the last two weeks preceding their death, 356 (71 %) received continuous sedation until death, and 119 (24 %) received intermittent sedation. The median duration of sedation was 48 h (IQR 10-72 h); 168 patients (34 %) were sedated for less than 24 h. Indications for sedation were delirium (51 %), existential distress (32 %), dyspnea (30 %), and pain (20 %). Midazolam was the most frequently used drug (79 %), followed by lorazepam (13 %), and haloperidol (10 %). Sedated patients were significantly younger (median age 67 years vs. 74 years, p ≤ 0.001, r = 0.22), suffered more often from an oncological disease (92 % vs. 82 %, p ≤ 0.001, φ = 0.107), and were hospitalized more frequently (94 % vs. 76 %, p ≤ 0.001, φ = 0.175). The median number of days between admission to a palliative care ward/mobile palliative care team and death did not differ significantly in sedated versus non-sedated patients (10 vs. 9 days; p = 0.491).
conclusionThis study provides insights into the practice of end-of-life sedation in Austria. Critical appraisal of these data will serve as a starting point for the development of nation-wide guidelines for palliative sedation in Austria.
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