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Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey

BACKGROUND: Continuous deep sedation until death is a highly debated medical practice, particularly regarding its potential to hasten death and its proper use in end-of-life care. A thorough analysis of important trends in this practice is needed to identify potentially problematic developments. Thi...

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Autores principales: Robijn, Lenzo, Cohen, Joachim, Rietjens, Judith, Deliens, Luc, Chambaere, Kenneth
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4918927/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27337064
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158188
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author Robijn, Lenzo
Cohen, Joachim
Rietjens, Judith
Deliens, Luc
Chambaere, Kenneth
author_facet Robijn, Lenzo
Cohen, Joachim
Rietjens, Judith
Deliens, Luc
Chambaere, Kenneth
author_sort Robijn, Lenzo
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Continuous deep sedation until death is a highly debated medical practice, particularly regarding its potential to hasten death and its proper use in end-of-life care. A thorough analysis of important trends in this practice is needed to identify potentially problematic developments. This study aims to examine trends in the prevalence and practice characteristics of continuous deep sedation until death in Flanders, Belgium between 2007 and 2013, and to study variation on physicians’ degree of palliative training. METHODS: Population-based death certificate study in 2007 and 2013 in Flanders, Belgium. Reporting physicians received questionnaires about medical practices preceding the patient’s death. Patient characteristics, clinical characteristics (drugs used, duration, artificial nutrition/hydration, intention and consent), and palliative care training of attending physician were recorded. We posed the following question regarding continuous deep sedation: ‘Was the patient continuously and deeply sedated or kept in a coma until death by the use of one or more drugs’. RESULTS: After the initial rise of continuous deep sedation to 14.5% in 2007 (95%CI 13.1%-15.9%), its use decreased to 12.0% in 2013 (95%CI 10.9%-13.2%). Compared with 2007, in 2013 opioids were less often used as sole drug and the decision to use continuous deep sedation was more often preceded by patient request. Compared to non-experts, palliative care experts more often used benzodiazepines and less often opioids, withheld artificial nutrition/hydration more often and performed sedation more often after a request from or with the consent of the patient or family. CONCLUSION: Worldwide, this study is the first to show a decrease in the prevalence of continuous deep sedation. Despite positive changes in performance and decision-making towards more compliance with due care requirements, there is still room for improvement in the use of recommended drugs and in the involvement of patients and relatives in the decision-making process.
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spelling pubmed-49189272016-07-08 Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey Robijn, Lenzo Cohen, Joachim Rietjens, Judith Deliens, Luc Chambaere, Kenneth PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Continuous deep sedation until death is a highly debated medical practice, particularly regarding its potential to hasten death and its proper use in end-of-life care. A thorough analysis of important trends in this practice is needed to identify potentially problematic developments. This study aims to examine trends in the prevalence and practice characteristics of continuous deep sedation until death in Flanders, Belgium between 2007 and 2013, and to study variation on physicians’ degree of palliative training. METHODS: Population-based death certificate study in 2007 and 2013 in Flanders, Belgium. Reporting physicians received questionnaires about medical practices preceding the patient’s death. Patient characteristics, clinical characteristics (drugs used, duration, artificial nutrition/hydration, intention and consent), and palliative care training of attending physician were recorded. We posed the following question regarding continuous deep sedation: ‘Was the patient continuously and deeply sedated or kept in a coma until death by the use of one or more drugs’. RESULTS: After the initial rise of continuous deep sedation to 14.5% in 2007 (95%CI 13.1%-15.9%), its use decreased to 12.0% in 2013 (95%CI 10.9%-13.2%). Compared with 2007, in 2013 opioids were less often used as sole drug and the decision to use continuous deep sedation was more often preceded by patient request. Compared to non-experts, palliative care experts more often used benzodiazepines and less often opioids, withheld artificial nutrition/hydration more often and performed sedation more often after a request from or with the consent of the patient or family. CONCLUSION: Worldwide, this study is the first to show a decrease in the prevalence of continuous deep sedation. Despite positive changes in performance and decision-making towards more compliance with due care requirements, there is still room for improvement in the use of recommended drugs and in the involvement of patients and relatives in the decision-making process. Public Library of Science 2016-06-23 /pmc/articles/PMC4918927/ /pubmed/27337064 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158188 Text en © 2016 Robijn et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Robijn, Lenzo
Cohen, Joachim
Rietjens, Judith
Deliens, Luc
Chambaere, Kenneth
Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey
title Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey
title_full Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey
title_fullStr Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey
title_full_unstemmed Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey
title_short Trends in Continuous Deep Sedation until Death between 2007 and 2013: A Repeated Nationwide Survey
title_sort trends in continuous deep sedation until death between 2007 and 2013: a repeated nationwide survey
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4918927/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27337064
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158188
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