The prevalence in the general population of advance directives on euthanasia and discussion of end-of-life wishes: a nationwide survey

BMC Palliative Care

Research Article

Aline De Vleminck¹  Koen Pardon¹  Dirk Houttekier¹  Lieve Van den Block²  Luc Deliens³  Robert Vander Stichele⁴ 

[1] End-of-Life Care Research group, Ghent University & Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Laarbeeklaan 103, 1090, Jette, Belgium;End-of-Life Care Research group, Ghent University & Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Laarbeeklaan 103, 1090, Jette, Belgium;Department of Family Medicine and Chronic Care, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium;End-of-Life Care Research group, Ghent University & Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Laarbeeklaan 103, 1090, Jette, Belgium;Department of Medical Oncology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium;End-of-Life Care Research group, Ghent University & Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Laarbeeklaan 103, 1090, Jette, Belgium;Heymans Institute of Pharmacology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium;

关键词: Advance care planning;    Advance directive;    End-of-life care wishes;    Cross-sectional;    General population;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12904-015-0068-1

 received in 2015-02-10, accepted in 2015-11-27,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTo determine the extent to which members of the general population have talked to their physician about their wishes regarding medical treatment at the end of life, to describe the prevalence of advance directives on euthanasia, and to identify associated factors.MethodThis study used data from the cross-sectional Health Interview Study (HIS) 2008 that collected data from a representative sample (N = 9651) of the Belgian population.ResultsOf all respondents, 4.4 % had spoken to their physician about their wishes regarding medical treatment at the end of life, while 1.8 % had an advance directive on euthanasia. Factors positively associated with discussions regarding wishes for medical treatment at the end of life were being female, being older in age, having poorer health status and having more GP contacts. People older than 55 years and living in Flanders or Brussels were more likely than the youngest age categories to have an advance directive on euthanasia.ConclusionYounger people, men, people living in the Walloon region of Belgium, people without a longstanding illness, chronic condition or disability and people with few GP contacts could represent a target group for education regarding advance care planning. Public information campaigns and education of physicians may help to enable the public and physicians to engage more in advance care planning.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© De Vleminck et al. 2015