Observational studyCritical care medicine2026
Influence of Age in End-of-Life Practices in Worldwide ICUs (ETHICUS-2): A Prospective Observational Study.
Observational study in Critical care medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Aspiration pneumonia in the world's most aged society: age-stratified ICU management and outcomes from a nationwide Japanese registry.Journal of intensive care · 2026Article
- End-of-life decision-making in very old critically ill patients.European geriatric medicine · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
24 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe practice of limiting life-sustaining therapy (LST) at end-of-life is widespread globally. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether patient's age influences end-of-life limitations overall and of various LST in ICUs worldwide.
designMultinational, multicenter, prospective observational study.
settingOne hundred ninety-nine ICUs in 36 countries worldwide. PATIENTS: Consecutive adult patients admitted to ICUs who died and/or had LST limitations (withholding, withdrawing, or active shortening of the dying process) were included during a 6-month period between September 2015 and September 2016.
interventionsNone. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN
resultsPatients were grouped: younger than 65 years, 65-79 years old, and 80 years old or older. A total of 12,200 patients were included. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, odds ratio (OR) for any LST limitation in the 80 years old or older group was higher than in younger than the 65 years old group (OR 1.47 [95% CI, 1.22-1.76], p < 0.001). When stratified by region, this association was significant in Central and Southern Europe (OR 1.56 [95% CI, 1.11-2.20], p = 0.037 and OR 2.23 [95% CI, 1.58-3.17], p < 0.001, respectively), but not in the other regions. The proportion of withholding therapy of each LST was highest in the group of individuals 80 years or older, whereas the proportion of withdrawing therapy was highest in the group younger than 65 years. The 80-year-old or older group also had a shorter time from ICU admission to first limitation. The predominant reason for any LST limitation in all age groups was unresponsiveness to maximal therapy, followed by neurologic and chronic diseases. Patient age was rarely the primary reason for limitations for all groups.
conclusionsEnd-of-life limitations were higher in patients 80 years or older compared to those 65 years old or younger, with regional variations. The main reasons for limitations were comparable across age groups, with age not being the primary reason.
Indexed as
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.